NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

Here I’ll take my best guess as to where some of the big-name free agents – and a few not-yet free agents – will land.

NFL fans best not laugh at this Carmelo Anthony ordeal. No matter how much fatigue some have over it, when a huge star switches teams, it is an overwhelmingly positive thing for a league.

If the NFL has a lock out shortened season, no season, or misses more than one season, they will need big names changing places to help regain their lost fan base.

Oshiomogho Atogwe, FS: Dallas Cowboys. The back end of the Dallas Cowboys secondary got exposed in their 2009 playoff game in Minnesota. This off-season has a more strategic, needs-addressing feel to it for the Cowboys. They stood pat last off-season but I think Rob Ryan (who wants tough players), Demarcus Ware and Jay Ratliff will sell Atogwe on Dallas. Atogwe and his 22 lifetime INTs (and 16 FF and 8 fumble recoveries) will be welcome on a defense that couldn’t get takeaways last year in important games (they were 7th in INTs, 19th in fumble recoveries but had just one total turnover in their first four losses, and got more than 2 in just one of their 10 losses).

Chad Ochocinco, WR: New England Patriots. Chad’s option has been picked up for $6m which isn’t guaranteed. Based on how Marvin Lewis has been talking all off-season, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him cut. Their young receivers are highly-skilled and Ochocinco will be getting an uncharacteristically large sum of money from a notoriously cheap owner, coming off a rather unproductive season (831 yards, 4 TDs in 14 games). I’m sure some of his production was effected by both Alfred (Carson Palmer) and Batman (Terrell Owens) but, once cut, I think New England will add him for his consistent ability to get open on intermediate routes.

Terrell Owens, WR: New York Jets. They have the veteran leadership to keep T.O. – sometimes a childish malcontent – in check. They have never shied away from taking on players with issues and he’ll come at a cheap price tag. Then again, Rex Ryan famously said this year that he has 3 #1 receivers. This deal becomes more likely if they fail to re-sign both Edwards and Holmes.

Bob Sanders, SS: Minnesota Vikings. Sanders could well go to the Panthers instead, as he has ties to both Carolina’s secondary coach Ron Meeks (Colts d-coordinator over Sanders 2004 thru 2008) and Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier (his secondary coach in 2005, 2006). Sanders is used to winning and the Cover-2. Advantage: Frazier.

Deangelo Williams, RB: Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins don’t look to be bringing back the other Williams (Ricky) and they will also be losing Ronnie Brown. Sparano is a Parcells disciple and Parcells was big on trusting veterans. Sparano was allowed to play young guys and build with them but, this off-season, had the awkward experience of having his job offered to Bill Cowher and potentially Jim Harbaugh. He needs to win now. The one thing that makes me think Williams could be going to Green Bay or somewhere else is that I believe part of the reason Miami has soured on Ronnie Brown is his health, and Deangelo has missed 13 games over the last two seasons.

Raiders head coach Hue Jackson said recently that “there’s no question” Jason Campbell is the team’s starting quarterback. It was a signal to QB Bruce Gradkowski, who started four games for Oakland last season, that if he wants a chance to earn a starting job, he’ll have to look elsewhere when his contract expires this offseason. Gradkowski apparently has not ruled out staying put, however.

Gradkowski told Pro Football Weekly earlier this week that he knows he’s an NFL starter, but he still would like to stay in Oakland. “I’d love to stay out here,” Gradkowski said. “I think the Raiders want me back, as well. Hopefully it makes sense for everyone and it works out. Whatever my part is, I just want to be a Raider and help this team win and go from there.”

The NY Daily News reports that Plaxico Burress, who is thinking about playing after being in prison, wants to head to South Beach, where he can play for the Miami Dolphins.

Someone familiar with Plaxico Burress' thinking believes he prefers to avoid New York, to play in a warmer climate, and that his preference is to live near his offseason home in Miami. The person also says Burress knows he'd be better off far from the clutches of the New York media that remember every sordid detail of his Giants career. His past, were he to play elsewhere, is a short story. In New York, it would become a season-long theme.

In one of the sadder cases in the NFL in recent memory, former Bears safety Dave Duerson appeared to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest.

Former Bears safety Dave Duerson died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest, according to The Chicago Tribune, and the co-director of a medical school program told The Associated Press on Saturday night that his family has agreed to donate his brain for research.

The Tribune, citing an unidentified person with knowledge of the situation, reported on its website that Duerson’s death has been ruled a suicide. His body was found Thursday in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla.

Dr. Bruce Hyma, the chief medical examiner for Miami-Dade County, declined to comment on the case in an e-mailed response to questions from the AP. He referred inquiries to the police department. A Miami-Dade police supervisor said the department had no information to release Saturday regarding the cause of Duerson’s death. Duerson’s jersey is sure to be a hot item at the Smarter NFL Shop and elsewhere.

Chris Nowinski, part of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University School of Medicine, told the AP he was contacted by a representative of the NFL Players Association on Friday, then worked with a representative of Duerson’s family.

“I can confirm that Mr. Duerson’s family has agreed to donate his brain to the CSTE at BU School of Medicine,” Nowinski said in an e-mail.