NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

Below is the unofficial activity calendar for the National Football League, between next Thursday and thwe regular season:

July 22 — Signing period ends at 4 p.m. (EDT) for unrestricted free agents who received June 1 tender.
Aug. 7 — Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.
Aug. 8 — Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, Cincinnati vs. Dallas at Canton, Ohio.
Aug. 12-16 — First preseason weekend.
Aug. 31 — Roster cutdown to maximum of 75 players.
Sept. 4 — Roster cutdown to maximum of 53 players.
Sept. 9 — Opening game of regular season.

Pats veteran wide out Randy Moss has a new agent. The National Football Post reports that Moss has hired Joel Segal to take care of his business affairs. Moss joins players like Chris Johnson and Reggie Bush on the list that Segal represents.

New England Patriots veteran wide receiver Randy Moss said he wanted to increase his off-field opportunities when he fired longtime agent Tim DiPiero earlier this offseason. Now, he has hired Joel Segal for that task. Segal also represents New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush, Tennessee Titans running back Chris Johnson and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, among several other NFL players. “To all the agents out there, I’m a free man!” Moss told the Boston Herald when he ended his business relationship with DiPiero.

“I am looking for a new agent. I got this football thing under control, but going into my 13th year in the league, I’m still marketable. I’m looking for an agent that’s going to get me out there with my marketing ability. I can shoot commercials. That’s what I’m looking for right now, that off-the-field money.” Heading into a contract year, Moss said he doesn’t think he’ll play in New England much longer. “I don’t think I’m realistically in the future plans of the Patriots,” Moss said. “But if the New England Patriots don’t want me in their future, I understand.”

The Jets are expected to have a big attack on offense this season, getting former Steeler Super Bowl MVP WR Santonio Holmes in a trade, and adding more pieces on both sides of the ball. One guy that will be counted on is TE Dustin Keller, and here’s a little fantasy preview of what folks can expect from Keller in 2010.

2009 Season: Keller played in all 16 games and the three post season games, and became a solid target for QB Mark Sanchez, more so as the season went along. He ended the year with 45 grabs for 522 yards and two touchdowns, numbers that are almost identical from the season before with Brett Favre under center. He also is a decent blocker, and recently was ranked 15th among TE’s in fantasy football entering 2010.

2010 Season: Look for just about the same numbers, maybe a tad bit better for Keller in 2010. He is a solid safety valve for Sanchez, but never seems to put up big numbers, and won’t again in 2010. His biggest game in 2009 was against the Dolphins on November 1st when he had 8 catches for 76 yards with a touchdown. If you catch him and start him on one of those types of weeks, good luck. Otherwise, he averaged just 2.8 catches per game, and 32 yards per game. He’ll never be a top 10 TE, but could be a solid backup TE on your fantasy roster.

The Bears took the most talked about player in today’s NFL supplemental draft, selecting running back Harvey Unga in the seventh round.

Unga led BYU in career rushing yards, and he led the Mountain West Conference with 1,087 rushing yards in 2009.

As a result of today’s pick, the Bears will give up a seventh-round pick.

Unga is expected to compete with Garrett Wolfe, Khalil Bell and rookie free agent Brandon Minor for a backup spot on the roster.

The Bears currently have two fullbacks under contract: Eddie Williams and Will Ta’ufo’ou, after releasing veteran Jason McKie earlier in the offseason. The Bears were one of 20 teams to attend Unga’s workout in front of NFL scouts prior to the supplemental draft.

According to Ebenezer Samuel of the New York Daily News, Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco remained mum on Monday when asked about the fight he tweeted about on Sunday night.

Around 1 am, he tweeted, “Damn, I just got in a fight with the bouncer, them damn boxing sessions got me on point, at least the police let me keep tweetin in the car?” Shortly thereafter, he tweeted: “Aww man NYPD is so awesome we are all headed to Starbucks after we drop the bouncer off at the police station for an assault on me.”

On Monday, he claimed the it was a joke in a tweet saying: “lmao, that’s the power of twitter, that was all a joke last night.” Ochocinco was asked about the situation three times on Monday, but he wasn’t permitted to comment, with a PR person rushing in to end the discussion each time.

The Bengals declined comment, as did a VH1 representative. But New York Police officials said they found no evidence that an incident had occurred. “He made it up,” according to a police source.

What would the Dolphins be like today if the team would have inked now Super Bowl MVP QB Drew Brees? Well, this past week Peter King had a portion of Brees’ upcoming book – “Coming Back Stronger” and it talks about how the QB flirted with the thought of being a Fin:

Brees had significant interest on the table from the Saints. But he wanted to find out if Saban had the same faith in him that (Sean) Payton and Mickey Loomis had in New Orleans.

So Brees picked up the phone and called Saban, who told him the Miami team doctors believed Brees had a 25 percent chance to come back and be the same quarterback, or better, that he'd been before the shoulder surgery.

According to the book, Brees said to Saban: "Coach, I know what your doctors believe about me. My question is, what do you believe?"

Wrote Brees: "Nick Saban paused. That was really all I needed to hear. His pause told me everything. 'Well, Drew,' he said, 'I would still love to have you, but I have to trust what our medical people are saying …' He went on from there, like he was reading from a script. But I was starting to tune out. By then I had all the information I needed. I had made my decision."

Brees told Saban thanks, and he'd be going to New Orleans, even though telling Saban that might kill his negotiating position with the Saints.

As Brees told me, "The impression I get from the Dolphins was I should feel lucky they were even looking at me. It just wasn't a welcoming feeling."

While it would be interesting to think about the Fins with Brees, where would the New Orleans Saints be today without him?

Immediately following the last game of the 2009 season, rumors started to fly over who would be the next head coach for the Buffalo Bills. At first, popular names started to appear all over the internet linked to the Bills: Bill Cowher, Mike Shanahan, Jon Gruden, Jim Hasslet, Brian Billick, and even Tony Dungy.

And while it was exciting for many Bills fans to see their management finally making an effort to change the attitude of this struggling franchise, once the smoked cleared and the Bills found their man, many fans were left scratching their heads asking…who?

Yes, new head coach Chan Gailey isn’t exactly a household name, but that doesn’t mean he won’t end up being the right man to take the Buffalo Bills to the promise land. So before training camp starts, let’s all learn a bit more about Chan Gailey.

Chan Gailey, 58, was a three-year letterman for the Gators as a quarterback in the 1970’s. His first coaching job came at Troy State University where he was in charge of the secondary.

After leaving Troy State, he spent four season with the Air Force Academy before taking over as head coach in 1983 for Troy State University. In his second season as head coach, he lead the team to a 12-1 and a Division II championship.

He made his professional league debut as a defensive assistant and special teams coach in 1984 for the Denver Broncos. The team made three Super Bowl appearances during his six year tenure on the staff.

Gailey soon left the NFL to coach in the World League of American Football, but quickly returned to the NFL to join the Pittsburgh Steelers as their wide receivers coach and eventually as their offensive coordinator. The Steelers won their division all four years that Gailey was there.

Gailey’s most recent NFL head coaching job came in 1998, with the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys made it to the playoffs in both seasons with Gailey calling the shots, but failed to advance pass the first round. After the Cowboys, he signed with the Miami Dolphins as the offensive coordinator for both the 2000 and 2001 season.

Leaving the NFL yet again, Gailey spent the next five years as the head coach of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets were he lead the team to Bowl Games in each of his first five seasons, winning only two.

Being dismissed from the team following the 2007 season, Gailey was hired as the offensive coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs, were after one full season with the team, he was suddenly let go after three pre-season games in 2009.

That brings us to the 2010 season, where Chan Gailey becomes the 15th head coach of the Buffalo Bills, the team’s fifth head coach in ten years.

And I will be the first to admit that although Gailey has plenty of experience coaching football, his overall record and accomplishments won’t scare off or wow any opposing team. (In nine seasons as a college head coach, he had a record of 68-44. In 13 seasons as a National Football League assistant, his teams went 124-82-1. In two seasons as an NFL head coach, he went 18-14)

But we can rest assure that Bills fans everywhere (including myself) will give Gailey every chance in the world to succeed. To finally have an offensive minded coach, which is something we haven’t seen at One Bills Drive is quite a long time, is reason alone for excitement.

There’s been plenty of talk about a possible match of free agent wide receiver Terrell Owens going to the Bears. The team could use a playmaker at wide out, and despite Owens age, he is a guy that can still produce.

The guy that would be throwing to Owens is Jay Cutler, who was a guest on “Mike and Mike in the Morning” on ESPN Radio on Thursday.

Cutler says that as of right now with the way things stand, he doesn’t seem to think Owens will be coming to the Windy City anytime soon.

“You know I like T.O., I think he’s a great player and I have always been a fan of his,” Cutler said. “No one works harder than T.O. on the practice field, but with the situation we are in I don’t see us going and getting T.O. especially at this time with learning the offense and trying to fit him in.”

Cutler went on to say that as of now, he thinks the team feels good about the pass catchers on the roster and where they stand with guys like Johnny Knox, Earl Bennett, and Devin Hester.

“I’m comfortable and I think the Bears are comfortable with the receivers we got,” Cutler said. “Ultimately that’s not my decision.”

Owens has been texting and going on Twitter trying to get the attention of players and teams, but Cutler says that the always colorful wide out has not reached out to him – as of yet.

“I don’t know what T.O. is up to,” he said.