NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

San Diego Hasn’t Had A Hard-Hitting Strong Safety Since Rodney Harrison

Former Colts safety Bob Sanders has agreed to a one-year contract with the Chargers.

The former Defensive Player of the Year also met recently with the Jets, Bills, and Jaguars, according to numerous sources.

Since being honored in ‘07, the Iowa Hawkeye alum has participated in only nine regular season contests.

Sanders took the field just once last year, exiting the Colts’ opener on the club’s first defensive series with a torn left biceps.

Adam Schefter from ESPN has reported that the Redskins have signed free agent FS Oshiomogho Atogwe to a 5 year, $26 million deal. The Broncos, Bills, and Cowboys were all interested in signing him.

The lists of overrated and underrated NFL players changed a lot this year.

As for overrated, – outside of Ron Jaworski – NFL commentators finally stopped waiting for Reggie Bush to become a difference-maker or reach the potential he showed earlier in this career. Brian Urlacher had such a renaissance year that he’s barely overrated at this point. More people have realized that Drew Brees executes in the perfect offense for him, but maybe isn’t quite as remarkable as they thought post-2009 campaign. In the past two years, the media has started to be more realistic about Eli Manning, Jeremy Shockey and DeAngelo Hall.

5. Chris Johnson. I keep hearing what a dynamic player he is and how you gotta keep him in the discussion with Adrian Peterson and Arian Foster as the best tailbacks in the league. However, he didn’t make many explosive plays last year. He’s a guy who might benefit from some offensive changes and still has a lot of pop. Granted, he’s dealt with instability on offense and often plays from behind but just 38 touchdowns over three seasons makes him not worthy of all the praise he’s received. 38 is good but if he was really as game-changing as some have called him, he’d have the same number or more than Adrian Peterson (39) or Michael Turner (41).

4. Antrel Rolle. His two consecutive Pro Bowl appearances are evidence that the NFC needs better safeties. He was a part of four turnovers in his first year with the Giants and is a pretty good player, but the Giants over-payed for his services.

3. Desean Jackson. He’s a little overrated by the media and very overrated by some fantasy fans. Some of those fantasy fans are so enamored with his big games that they don’t notice his bad games as much.

I admit, some of his stats last season were affected by the difficulty of coming back from a concussion. Unlike his head coach, I would never question the toughness of a player who is concerned about re-injuring his brain.

He’s a player who takes advantage of bad secondaries and a good offensive system. In 2009, he had four games in the regular season against playoff teams. In those games, he only once went over 100 yards and got just one touchdown. In the playoffs against Dallas, he did hit paydirt but finished with just 14 yds (after getting 29 and 47 and no TD’s in his first two games against them). In 2010,  this trend continued. He played in 14 games but got 498 of his 1056 yards receiving in 3 games against the Cowboys, Jaguars, and Detroit. He had only won big game against a playoff team: 7 catches, 109 yds and 1 TD against the Colts.

His rookie year playoff run: 1 catch for 34, 0 TD @ MIN; 4 for 81, 0 TD @NYG; 6 for 92, 1 TD @ARI. This year’s playoff game: 2 catches, 47 yds vs. GB.

2. Tom Brady. The man, the myth, (lately) the mirage. In other sports, many fans and those in the media write off Jeter, Kobe, and Duncan as done when they go ONE season without a championship. In three of the last four years, Brady  has trotted out there hurt, and looked ordinary in a playoff game. All three times, the Pats were defeated. I commend him for playing hurt, but – at some point – the reality has to set in: the Patriots haven’t won a Super Bowl in 6 years.

Now, the NFL is the ultimate team sport and you could argue that in his last five playoff appearances – which all ended with no rings – Brady has played good enough to win in all but two of those games (vs. Baltimore 2009, and vs. New York Giants 2007 he played hurt and was off-target).

My point is, so many on NFL Network, ESPN, CBS and Fox took the position that Tom Brady was in a stratosphere by himself. I’m sure Peyton Manning’s struggles had something to do with this but I was dumbfounded and kept maintaining that I’d rather have Aaron Rodgers than any of the other great quarterbacks because we hadn’t seen what they rest do when they don’t get protection. We’ve seen Aaron keep his team in a game by himself. I respect if you think Brady is the best in the NFL, but he isn’t in a class above Brees, Rodgers, and Manning.

1. Matt Ryan. “Matty Ice” – as he’s been called – is now 0-2 in the playoffs and his inability to throw on the move resulted in six points for Green Bay. He’s good and has impeccable accuracy when someone’s wide open and he has a lot of time to throw but the Monday and Thursday night crews set records for worshiping a quarterback, so I had to put him on at number 1. Not that they won’t improve but the Falcons were a facade, built on getting help from refs in close games and blowing out awful teams like Cleveland, Arizona and Carolina (twice).

There remains some hope that a deal will get done between NFL Owners and the NFLPA, and in a show of good faith, talks for a new collective bargaining agreement have gotten a 24 hour extension which means that there will be no official lockout Thursday night as was first scheduled.

While it does not seem likely that a deal is going to get done, it’s a small sign of hope that something can get settled on between the two sides. The 24-hour extension can also lead to a longer extension, which is going to almost for sure be needed in order to get a deal between the two sides done.

It’s a short term extension that everyone hopes will lead to something much bigger down the road.

Saints Executive Vice President/General Manager Mickey Loomis announced Thursday that the club has agreed to terms on a four-year contract with running back Pierre Thomas.

Thomas joined the Saints as an undrafted free agent in 2007, signing with the team out of the University of Illinois and has led the club in rushing over that four-year period, gaining 1,939 yards with 18 rushing touchdowns in 47 regular season games, 15 of them starts. The 5-11, 215-pound runner has also caught 116 passes for 938 yards and six additional scores and averaged 24.4 yards on 75 kickoff returns. He scored his first career touchdown in 2007 by returning a fumble on special teams for a score.

Last season was a tough one for the 26-year-old, as was limited to just six games in 2010 due to an ankle injury and ran for 269 yards with a pair of touchdowns.

He featured prominently in the team’s postseason run following the 2009 season, playing in all three games and running for 143 yards and a touchdown. Additionally, he caught 12 passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns, including a 16-yard score on a screen pass in the third quarter of the Saints’ victory in Super Bowl XLIV.

The Eagles may have scored with Michael Vick signing his one-year tender, but David Akers is refusing to sign his tender. Even though if he were to sign, he would double his salary from the 2010 season from $1.4 million, to $2.8 million in 2011. The Eagles are just trying to lock Akers into a one year extension so that there is no way of him leaving for a larger contract on another team.

It was originally reported by the Philadelphia Daily News that Akers had no intentions of singing the tender, and that he would rather be signed to a multi-year deal. With this information, the Eagles have a crisis of sorts on their hands. They have several options, and Akers isn't going to make things easy.

Akers has the choice, if he does not sign the tender, to test his value and see if other teams will offer him a contract. If another team does offer Akers a multiple year deal, it will force the Eagles to do the same. If Akers were to sign the tender, this would not be an issue, as they would have an entire season to negotiate his contact.

The Eagles have the option to lock Akers into a multi-year deal, he will be turning 37 next season, or allow him to walk. The perennial Pro-Bowl kicker has been a long-time Eagle, and there is no way the Eagles can let him leave. It's time for Philadelphia to pay up. He is way too valuable to let go, and he is arguably the best kicker in the entire NFL.

Robert Gallery was supposed to be a rock on the Raiders O-line for years. Instead, it’s yet another failed draft pick for the Raiders, who will not have Gallery back according to the player.

The guard told ESPN's Adam Schefter that he and Oakland owner Al Davis have agreed that it's time that Gallery moves on in free agency. "With the end of the league year coming today, and the few conversations I've had with the Raiders and Mr. Davis, we've come to a mutual agreement that it's time for me to move on with my career," Gallery said Thursday.

"I appreciate the start that they and Mr. Davis gave me and I truly have enjoyed my time wearing the silver and black. I wish them well, I thank the fans and I take away great memories of my time in Oakland,” Gallery said. "I'm looking for a new start somewhere else, to experience another place, and to be able to accomplish some of the things I want. It's best for everyone."

Back in 2004, Gallery was the second overall pick, and was put right in as the left tackle, but struggled and eventually was moved to the guard spot. Now he will be elsewhere in 2011 and beyond, as the team will go with another look on the O-line without Gallery.

Tight end Jeremy Shockey announced via Twitter that he will be signing with the Panthers, giving Carolina an interesting piece to an offense that was awful last season and will have new look with new coach Ron Rivera.

Shockey said, “Looks like I’m signing with Carolina. Time for the Next chapter. This is a great opportunity for me.” Shockey said he would choose between the Carolina Panthers and Dolphins. He had taken a physical with Miami, but decided against inking with the Fins in favor of Carolina.

The NFL owners are expected to issue a press release this afternoon. According to Daniel Kaplan of the Sports Business Journal, expect the press release to be an official announcement of a lockout. The only positive news is that the owners have agreed to bring more financial data to today’s bargaining session, although it won’t be be anywhere near the open-book policy the union has been seeking.

Also this afternoon the NFLPA could decertify and file an injunction in Judge Doty’s court.

At this point, the most positive case scenario would be the NFL agreeing to an extension of the CBA talks and postponing the lockout deadline coming tonight at midnight. This scenario is possible but doe not seem likely.

Seahawks QB Matt Hasselbeck could be poised to test NFL’s free-agency according to Nate Davis of USA Today.

“Matt Hasselbeck just turned down Seattle’s last offer. They’re concerned about getting him re-signed. They’re not close on a contract yet,” said NFL Network’s Michael Lombardi on Wednesday’s edition of NFL Total Access

Seattle GM John Schneider said of contract talks with Hasselbeck at the combine: “It’s going good. We’re having great dialogue. Matt is Mr. Seattle, and he has done a ton of great things for the city, on and off the field. We’ve had good dialogue. I think you’ve heard me say it before, the head coach and the quarterback are the most important people in the building.”