NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

A report from Jason Cole of Yahoo Sports said the New Orleans Saints gave Reggie Bush permission to speak to the front offices of other NFL teams as a way to gauge interest.

However, Bush told Kristian Garic of WWLTV in New Orelans via text, that the Yahoo Sports article is not accurate.

Bush responded, “Lol! Absolutely not!”

After being text by Garic, “just so I have this right u were never given permission to gauge interest of other teams? Right?” Bush replied, “For the second time no.”

The Titans enter 2011 with a new coach for the first time in a LONG time, as Jeff Fisher will not be on the teams sidelines for the first time since the 1994 season.

Fisher has finally spilled the beans about his future plans, telling people that he doesn’t want to get back to coaching right away, and is quoted per Pro Football Weekly as saying he won’t talk about returning to the sidelines till January.

Former Titans head coach Jeff Fisher said he would not think about returning to coaching until January.

Fisher, who remains involved with the NFL as a nonvoting member of the competition committee, said in regards to looking for his next job, “That’s going to be a January thing. That’s next year. I don’t think much about it. I don’t pay much attention to it,” according to The Associated Press and NFL.com.

Fisher will also take the time out of coaching to watch his youngest son, who will be playing for Auburn in the fall.

Fisher’s 11th annual charity softball game in Nashville is still taking place on Saturday night, and former and current Titans will join him for the event.

January of course is when a number of coaching positions in the league will come open, as that’s usually when teams start to can coaches after bad seasons. Some teams that could be looking for coaches in 2012:

Jacksonville (Jack Del Rio)
Miami (Tony Sparano)
Cincinnati (Marvin Lewis)
Oakland (Hue Jackson – after all, why not?!)

There’s more out there that would look to upgrade with a coach like Fisher, who has proven over the years in Tennessee that he doesn’t need the most talent in the league to get a team to the postseason.

By Bengals Gab Columnist Nathan Mallon

Included in the many debates surrounding our Bengals this off-season is the question of whether or not Chad Ochocinco will return to finish out the final year of his contract with the team.

Chad will be due $6 million for 2011 if the team elects to have him finish out his existing deal. Many believe the Bengals will part ways and release him after the lockout ends and others believe he will be back to bring a veteran presence to a young receiving corp.

One would think the team will have to think hard about this decision due to several factors such as:

1) Rookie QB. If Carson Palmer does not return, which seems likely to be the case, and rookie quarterback Andy Dalton is given the chance to start come Week 1 how much will it really help him to have Chad’s veteran presence on the field? This is subjective because although Chad does bring considerable experience and success at the receiver position, he has been known to be on a different page than the quarterback (fault being debatable) and at times there seemed to be a lack of chemistry between Palmer and Chad even after years of playing together.

2) Young/Inexperienced WR Corp. If Chad is let go and T.O. is not returning, will 1st round draft pick A.J. Green along with receivers Jerome Simpson, Jordan Shipley, and Andre Caldwell provide enough support to whomever is starting at QB? (remember Palmer threw for 4 touchdowns against San Diego in Week 16 last year with Simpson, Caldwell, Gresham, and Shipley playing and no Ochocinco or T.O. on the field.)

3) Other Free Agents. Re-signing other key free agents such as Cedric Benson and Johnathan Joseph has to be a high priority after the lock out ends. In addition to re-signing key players the Bengals also need help at other positions such as safety and on the o-line in my opinion, so would releasing Chad free up money that could be better used for other needs of greater importance?

So let me toss this back your way, should the Bengals bring Chad back for the 2011 season?

Free agent quarterback Chad Pennington will take the 2011 season off, the Charleston Daily Mail reports.

“I’m actually going to take this year off, get healthy and do some work for Fox Sports,” said Pennington, who turns 35 next week. “I’m going to evaluate things and see where I am physically.”

A first-round pick (18th overall) out of Marshall by the New York Jets in 2000, Pennington has completed an NFL-best 66.0% of his 2,471 pass attempts for 17,823 yards with 102 touchdowns and 64 interceptions in his 11-year career, which has included four major shoulder surgeries and two AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year awards.

Pennington’s 2009 and 2010 seasons ended prematurely due to shoulder injuries. In March, Pennington tore an ACL playing pick-up basketball in West Virginia.

“The last time I played a pickup basketball game was when I was at Marshall. It’s one of those things.”

After the Metrodome's roof collapsed under a heavy snow load I was quite vocal in expressing my belief that the Minnesota media was letting the Metrodome Sports Facility Commission off the hook a little too easy.  After all, the Metrodome was only hours away from being filled to the brim with players, coaches, and spectators.

I felt that the roof's failure could conceivably be chalked up to human error instead of simply labeling it an unavoidable act of nature.

In December, I was fed up with the media's inability to pose any tough questions to the MSFC, so I requested an interview with their Director of Facilities/Engineering Steve Maki.  The night before the collapse, Maki was quoted as saying there was no worries about the soundness of the structure, which obviously turned out to be a poor statement to have on record by the next morning.

Maki accepted my interview request and asked me to send him my questions, and I sent him this list.

Apparently Maki changed his mind about answering my questions after seeing them, and simply responded that they were assessing the situation and would keep Vikings Gab updated.

I haven't heard from him since.

One of the questions I had asked was, "Prior to the 2010 NFL season, new turf was installed on the playing surface inside the Metrodome.  Has the new turf been damaged by the event?"

Click HERE to read the rest

NFL owners and players hope to reach a new collective bargaining agreement that would allow training camp to open on time. If a deal is struck, Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean reports that the Titans shouldn’t expect running back Chris Johnson to show up until he receives a new contract.

Coming off a 2,000-yard season and a second Pro Bowl, Johnson threatened to hold out of last year’s training camp unless the team significantly increased what he was set to earn under the five-year, $12.08 million contract Johnson signed as the 23rd overall pick of the 2008 NFL Draft.

Due to the 30% rule governing extensions in the uncapped season, the Titans weren’t able to meet his demands–which Wyatt pegs at $30 million in guarantees–but renegotiated his deal on July 21, ten days before camp opened up.

In that re-negotiation, the Titans broke up the $2.5 million in base salary escalation that was available in 2012, giving Johnson half ($1.25 million) as a signing bonus and $235,000 in 2010 incentives. The remaining $1.015 million is available in escalators to his 2011 and 2012 salaries.

After another 1,300-yard season and a third straight Pro Bowl, the Titans can expect to have to pony up much more than the $2.775 million remaining on the final two years of Johnson’s deal to get him to camp on time.

Clark Judge of CBSSports reports there’s no deadline for the NFL to complete negotiations with its players, but coaches across the league have been alerted business could resume anywhere from mid- to late July, with two sources telling me there’s a feeling that late July is more likely.

That tells us two things: 1) that management believes a settlement is probable, and 2) that it still acknowledges there is substantial work to be completed before players and owners complete an agreement.

“As long as we get six weeks to prepare for the season opener, we’ll be fine,” one coach said. “But I don’t think you’ll see anything happen before the end of July.”

One source said he and other assistants were notified that one of two scenarios could take place. The first would involve five days of workouts — mostly conditioning — to evaluate players before training camp begins, with the understanding that clubs could sign free agents during that time.

The second scenario involved a looser schedule, with a two-week period prior to training camp devoted to anything from conditioning and strength exercises, OTAs, team meetings and free-agent signings. After that, he said, there would be a brief break before training camp begins. In that instance, he said, he was told something could happen as soon as July 11, though he emphasized there were no fixed dates, only guidelines to an uncertain future.