NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

As the labor issues continue in the NFL with seemingly no end in sight it gets difficult to think of topics to  write about. Just look over at ESPN and they've been reduced to providing power rankings for helmets (Good find Jonathan Scruggs!) The Ravens finished 22nd if anyone cares.

So I figured now was as good a time as any to focus on Free Agency. It remains to be seen what impact this year's or even last year's draft class will have on the field when it looks like practice and instruction time will be lost due to the lockout. So, just who will the Ravens look to acquire to fill in the gaps to make another run at the Super Bowl? The window is closing and the time is now. Who would put the team over the top?

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Although Jets head coach Rex Ryan's team has tried somewhat to put distance between themselves and free agent receiver Randy Moss publicly, Mike Florio at PFT believes they remain a 'viable destination' for Moss. Jets G.M. Mike Tannebaum did not outright deny they will not pursue Moss during a recent interview, which also leaves the door open a touch for outspoken receiver to head to the Big Apple.

Of course any talk of Moss joining the Jets could also be a ploy in contract negotiations with Braylon Edwards and Santonio Holmes. The likely scenario has Holmes departing for another team following his spat with management over playing time in the post season.

A Moss and Edwards combination would be strong for Mark Sanchez who guided the Jets to two AFC Championship appearances in his first two seasons as a pro.

1. New York Jets at Baltimore: Sunday, Oct. 2nd, NBC
If you aren’t sure if you like defense, you’ll know one way or the other by the time the last body is taken off in a stretcher and the clock hits all zeroes. When these teams met last year – Rex’s first game against his old bosses – there were 4 sacks, 4 turnovers, 6 first downs by the Jets and just one touchdown in a 10-9 win for the Ravens.
2. Indianapolis at New England: Sunday, Dec. 4th, NBC
Sure to be a playoff atmosphere, Colts-Patriots is like Red Sox-Yankees except the people who are fatigued by Colts-Patriots still tune in and the games actually live up to the billing. Tom Brady is 6-3 against Indy in the regular season, 2-1 in playoff games with Peyton Manning beating New England in a 2008 regular season game when Matt Cassel was under center for New England.
3. Tampa Bay at Dallas: Saturday, Dec. 17th, NFL Network
The Buccaneers should be on a roll, having played the Titans, Panthers and Jaguars right in a row. Dallas has clobbered Tampa Bay in the last two meetings. However, this looks to be a new Bucs team and a display of the top two receivers from the 2010 draft – Dez Bryant and Mike Williams.
4. Houston at Indianapolis: Thursday Dec. 22nd, NFL Network
This could be Gary Kubiak’s stand. Certainly, I could have put the match-up of Ravens-Steelers (Sunday, November 6th, NBC) on here or Steelers-Colts (Sunday, September 25th, NBC) but I wanted to put a game with shootout possibilities. If both these attacks are healthy – and they weren’t last year, this could make for a humongous score fest. If they aren’t healthy, a different Manning will help make Eagles at Giants (Sunday, November 20th on NBC) the next best opportunity for scoring.
5. Minnesota at Green Bay:  Monday, Nov. 14th, ESPN
These teams have a pretty good rivalry. I don’t know if you’ve heard. By this time in the year, Christian Ponder should be settled into the offense.

Help me get to 500 followers at http://twitter.com/Chris_M_Bach

D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the Falcons could have the inside track to sign six-time Pro Bowler Chad Ochocinco once the free agency period finally starts.

Ochocinco is still the property of the Bengals but most football people believe that his age, poor relationship with head coach Marvin Lewis, and the large bonus owed to him will result in the Bengals cutting him as soon as football operations resume.

The Falcons’ “inside track” is Bob Bratkowski. Bratkowski used to be the Bengals offensive coordinator and was hired by the Falcons in January to be the quarterbacks coach. According to Ochocinco, “Coach Bratkowski is the reason why I'm with the Bengals. "He was my coach at the Senior Bowl when I was coming out. He went to bat for me. They weren't going to take me. But from what he saw at the Senior Bowl before the draft is the reason why he stood on the table for me and that's why they drafted me."

Ochocinco would not say if he wanted to become a Falcon if his days in Cincinnati are indeed numbered. The interview took place just before his bull-riding stunt and he answered football questions by stating, “It's a lockout, man," I’m riding bulls. I don't want to talk about football."

With superstar Roddy White as their leading receiver and with the Falcons giving up a king’s ransom to draft rookie Julio Jones, the 33-year-old Ochocinco would have to rein in his ego considerably and accept a reduced role to make it as a Falcon.

The 49ers used the 36^th overall pick in the recent NFL draft on 23-year-old Colin Kaepernick out of Nevada. It looks like he's going to be groomed as the club's future quarterback, but it's probably going to take some time for him to develop and grow into the role. In fact, San Francisco thought so much of him they traded up from the 45^th spot and gave the Denver Broncos their fourth and fifth round picks.

But with Alex Smith returning, it's likely that Kaepernick will be brought along slowly and carefully. Give Kaepernick credit though as he said he's going to head into training camp with the intention of competing for the starting job, no matter if he's up against Smith, David Carr, who's an undrafted rookie free agent, or anybody else. It's going to be an uphill battle and the lockout is going to make it even harder if training camps are shortened.

The 6-foot-5, 230 lb. Kaepernick can speed up the process somewhat if he arrives at camp with a level of understanding  about the team's offense. If he does, it's conceivable that he'll earn the backup quarterback role

Head coach Jim Harbaugh will be able to groom Kaepernick during the season while he sees a limited amount of playing time behind Smith. The young 49ers quarterback has the tools to make it in the NFL since he's very athletic and has a strong arm, as evidenced by his 4,000 rushing yards and 10,000 passing yards at school. Kaepernick is the only Division I college football player to have ever achieved those numbers and is also the only one to have thrown over 2,000 yards and rushed over 1,000 in a season three times, which he did three years running.

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Let’s put the brakes on for one second.

The Philadelphia Eagles have had a quarterback situation that could not have been scripted better, since the first week of the 2010 NFL season, Kevin Kolb suffered a concussion and the Kolb-Era ended with as much hype as what it began with. Michael Vick stepped in, and from the moment he dropped back in that pocket and started firing those passes like missile-guided rockets, and then scrambling out of the pocket and keeping plays alive, Andy Reid had made up his mind.

Philadelphia's season concluded with Vick being a potential MVP candidate, and the Eagles' second consecutive one-and-done loss in the postseason to the Green Bay Packers. That loss was handed to the Eagles even with Vick under center. Even with the redemption season in full-swing, and all of the momentum of having home field advantage in Philadelphia, the Eagles still lost in the first round of the playoffs.

The Eagles have made it clear that they have intentions to resign Vick, and more than likely to a long-term deal. To make the deal even better for Vick, the Eagles organization is going to throw everything and then a few more million to make sure they lock him in. Reid and the Eagles are salivating at the thought of signing Vick to a five year deal, and then pulling a 'New England' and winning a series of Super Bowls.

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In 2010, Bills running back Fred Jackson was facing the prospect of being a backup in a crowded backfield that included former first round pick Marshawn Lynch and highly-touted No.9 overall draft pick rookie C.J. Spiller.

Jackson seemingly got little respect despite for gaining over a 1,000 yards the previous season. As Tim Graham of ESPN.com writes, Jackson was kinda in no-man’s land and didn’t start the first four games of the season, carrying the ball over 20 times for a total of 87 yards.

Things have changed since then. Lynch was dealt during the season last year and Spiller did not exactly have a stellar rookie year, scoring only one touchdown. Workhorse Fred Jackson went to back to being the main guy and gained yards the second half of the season, tying with Ray Rice for sixth in the NFL in that span. The running backs ahead of them were Arian Foster, Jamaal Charles, Maurice Jones-Drew, Chris Johnson and BenJarvus Green-Ellis. Pretty respectable company.

Unlike 2010, Jackson is counting on keeping his feature-back job for the 2011 season. “Right now, I feel like I’m the No. 1 guy and C.J. will come in and get a lot of plays,” Jackson said. “I feel like I’m going to be the guy that’s carrying the load and has got to make that running game go.” Of course, the Bills better get a lot more production out of Spiller this year to have any chance of competing but it is not a good sign the Spiller is not at the informal workouts currently being let by quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and Jackson.

The Bills won’t take Jackson for granted again. Look for him to get at least 250 carries this season.

Adam Schefter of ESPN has a prediction about NFL Free Agency, something that if the lockout wasn’t happening would have started the first week in March. Schefter says he thinks it not begin until at least after the fourth of July.

The next leverage point is the 8th Circuit’s June 3 hearing on the appeal of Judge Susan Nelson’s decision to lift the lockout. The 8th Circuit’s language this week suggests the Players will lose that appeal, at which point they will have to take a good, hard look in the mirror.

ESPN’s NFL business analyst, Andrew Brandt, believes there is now a chance of a new CBA through mediation, “hopefully made by mid-to-late July, setting up the start of football.”

Players are waiting to know exactly what’s going to happen when it comes to free agency, and while teams were able to go forth with the draft, they have had to sit back and wait to talk to their own free agents, as well as some teams may be targeting.

Indy Star columnist Bob Kravitz has three words for the Colts’ utter secrecy about their informal workouts.

Ridiculous. Dumb. Idiotic.

Kravitz makes the point that the NFL Players Association should want to promote the fact that my guys want to play football and are willing to work out — even without injury insurance — in order to prepare for the season. You want the fans’ hearts and minds? Make these workouts accessible, to the fans or at least to the media, so we can see the players’ level of commitment despite the lockout. If the Organization Formerly Known As The NFLPA was smart, it would insist that players open their informal workouts. This is a time to be building bridges to the fans, not blowing them up.

Kravits doesn’t blame Bob Irsay or Bill Polian for this. He says the ultra-secrecy has No.18 “written all over it”. The Colts won’t even tell the media or the fans where the workouts are taking place. It got so ridiculous that last week, reporters from WTHR-13 went to St. Vincent Sports Performance, where several players are doing off-field workouts, to shoot a story on New England receiver Deion Branch. (Apparently, Manning can’t force opposing players to abide by the gag order.) After filming, Dallas Clark and Justin Snow complained to the St. Vincent folks how they didn’t want a shooter in their midst during a workout.

Meanwhile there are players on teams all over the league that are being fairly open about their workouts. ELI Manning led a small group of players at a public site in Hoboken, New Jersey. Drew Brees used day of informal New Orleans Saints workouts to sell raffle tickets for fans to win a day with the team.

It’s not an absolute fact that Peyton Manning is the person behind the secret workouts but it definitely fits his modus operandi. The local media virtually had to file a Freedom of Information Act request just to learn that Manning and his wife recently became the parents of twins.

But Manning becomes a lot more visible when he shows up on our tvs every other hour either hawking a product or boosting a charity. Kravitz makes the point that you lose some of your anonymity when you are constantly making commercials that play on your “just folks” persona. An he is lucky to live in a media town that affords him and his family a large degree of privacy.

So where the heck are the workouts, Peyton?

NFL Gridiron Gab Draft expert Abe Munch goes team by team into the 2011 NFL Draft, and breaks down all the picks as well as goes in-depth with Best Selection, Sleeper and a Final Grade. Today we take a look at the NFC West. Click the links below to see the breakdown of the Rams, 49ers, Seahawks and Cardinals.

Rams Gab Grades the Teams Picks in the 2011 Draft
49ers Gab Grades the Teams Picks in the 2011 Draft
Seahawks Gab Grades the Teams Picks in the 2011 Draft
Cardinals Gab Grades the Teams Picks in the 2011 Draft