NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

Bears wide receiver Devin Hester encouraged the Bears to sign Torry Holt in 2009. Now Hester would like the Bears to sign Santana Moss.

“Anybody that can come in and help out the team, I'm down for it, and a guy like (Moss) can come in and really help out a lot,” Hester told Vaughn McClure of the Chicago Tribune. “I'm hoping we can get him.”

The 32 year old Moss had a career-high 93 catches for 1,115 yards and six touchdowns with Washington last season.

“If we don't add anybody, I'm very comfortable with the guys we have now, to be honest with you,'' Hester said. “Everybody showed glimpses last season. We have the athletes to do it. Now, it's just about going out there and getting it done.”

If the Cards are going to make a run in the NFC West, having a healthy and happy Larry Fitzgerald is important. One thing they don’t need is their All-Pro wide out talking about leaving to play elsewhere, but that’s exactly what happened when he spoke about playing for the Vikings.

Larry Fitzgerald has gained additional attention in the Twin Cities for his local workouts, which has led to the inevitable question. Fitzergald, though, said he is not thinking about leaving Arizona. “I try to put it like this,” he said. “I have one more year left on my deal, my job is to try to help the Arizona Cardinals win a championship and that’s my focus. I would like to play there. I’ve enjoyed my seven years there. If they want to keep me they’re going to have the first option to keep me.” … [Asked if he ever thinks about playing for the Vikings, Fitzgerald said:] “I’m good at just coming home and being able just to blend in and just being a regular guy. I kind of like that. So if it happened, it would obviously be a childhood dream come true, but if it doesn’t then I won’t lose any sleep over it.”

In the latest twist to his ongoing legal saga, Titans star wide receiver Kenny Britt has pleaded not guilty to his disorderly persons case in New Jersey. Britt is facing three misdemeanors after allegedly crushing a marijuana cigar blunt in Hoboken.

According to the Associated Press, Britt was assigned a September 20th court date and made no comments after the court appearance. Britt pled guilty in a speeding case in New Jersey following a police chase in Bayonne.

He surrendered on traffic warrants in Tennessee for allegedly giving inaccurate information on his driver’s license application.

And he’s facing a pending civil lawsuit for allegedly beating a man up in a Nashville bar last fall, a case where he wasn’t charged with a crime.

Britt could keep a law firm extremely busy with his caseload. When the lockout ends, he can expect to be summoned to New York to meet with law-and-order NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

With no new collective bargaining agreement in place, it is very likely that the Bears and Rams will move back the start of their training camp. Because of that, the Hall of Fame game between the two teams is looking less than likely to occur.

"The decision is probably going to be made for us," a coach from one of the teams told Jason Cole of Yahoo Sports. "You get past a certain point and you can't play that game … the way things are going right now, I don't think we're going to have the time to travel for an extra game, let alone all the other stuff you're talking about."

League spokesman Greg Aiello said Monday that no decision has been made on the game. Likewise, Hall of Fame spokesman Joe Horrigan said no decision has been made by his organization. However, Horrigan said there is no way to change the date of the enshrinement festivities.

Gordon Gekko once said, “Greed, for lack of a better word, is Good.”

Whether or not that is actually true, remains up for debate. We could argue that greed caused the economy to falter, and we would have a good argument. We could argue that greed is infectious. Or, like Gordon Gekko once said, we could argue that greed is good.

I happen to believe that greed, when overused, is bad. I think it can be okay to be greedy, as long as it doesn’t hurt others. But that’s another debate for another day.

The NFL lockout could be chalked up to greed. The NFL is incredibly profitable. Teams in small markets can succeed with one star player as much as teams in big markets. This isn’t the NBA. The NFL is widespread. The NFL is American. And the NFL is locked out. Because owners want more money, because players want more money. Because, quite frankly, they can.

So, in this case, greed isn’t that good. Greed has caused pain for fans, suffering for restaurant owners and people who depend on the NFL for jobs, and uncertainty for all.

But, with this greed, comes opportunity. The owners and players are negotiating, and from those talks could come real changes. While the NFL is profitable and enjoyable, there are still some real problems. This lockout has the opportunity to bring about real changes. If they are smart, here’s what could happen.

-The Adoption of a Rookie Wage Scale

I’ve written about this before, but it’s past time. The line between bust and star is thin. Injuries can happen in a second. More than that, a bust handcuffs a franchise for years, especially when it’s a high pick, especially when it’s a quarterback. A rookie wage scale needs to be implemented, if only to save teams from disaster.

-The Elimination of Two Preseason Games

Preseason has its place. All major sports use it. It’s used to decide the last few roster spots, to decide a position battle. It’s important. However, the way it’s being used is not important. 4 games, 3 of which starters barely play. Yet, teams charge full price. If we eliminate 2 games, bringing the total to two, which is all is really needed, would save fans money, as well as eliminate the risk of unnecessary injuries. Revenue isn’t that important.

-50-50 Revenue Split

This is one of the biggest issues. A 50-50 revenue split is fair. Owners get half, players get half. It’s fair.

-Better Benefits For Retired Players

Retired players are struggling with injuries, caused by the violent nature of the sport. Often times, they can’t pay for the health care costs. That’s not right. It’s not right in America, and it’s not right in the NFL. The NFL needs to take better care of it’s own.

-The Adoption of Safer Helemts

Concussions are a real, major issue. New helmet technology is making great advancements. It should be universally adopted. I don’t care if it looks weird, or whatever the current complaint is. It’s safer.

These are just some changes that would benefit from the lockout. There are probably more. The lockout is awful. But, in this case, greed could be good. If it’s used right.

An unidentified NFL player tells Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com that positive reports in the media about a labor deal are incorrect, and that a deal is not close.

“That’s not true,” the player said. “All that is hype coming from the owners side to try and put pressure on us to do a deal. They want to make us look bad. It’s simply not true. There is a lot of work to be done. They are not close.

“Consider where that information is coming from, it’s the owners,” the player said. “Their reason is to try and create all this false hope to put more pressure on us.”

What the player tells Prisco about a deal not being close is consistent with what I had heard from a source on the players’ side late last week. Hearing that there were still several issues to hammer out, which was combined with New York Giants owner John Mara pulling the plug on training camp in Albany and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s absence for Friday’s sessions, the optimism from this morning’s report on ESPN was a bit of a surprise.

Prisco’s player doubts that a deal could be done by July 21. I remain hopeful that one is possible by the end of this week, but I’m not buying the reports that there is only one main issue, the “rookie wage scale” no less, holding up an agreement. My take is that there are several issues that need to worked out, and that the two sides need several days of productive face-to-face talks to get this deal completed.

Police in Dekalb County, Georgia have released details on Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward’s arrest from last Saturday morning.

According to the report, Ward’s vehicle, a 2009 Aston Martin, was observed swerving and hitting a curb at 2:10 a.m. The officer began following the vehicle, which made several lane changes without signaling before he pulled the vehicle over.

The officers noticed “a strong odor of alcoholic beverage coming off the driver’s person” and that the driver’s eyes were bloodshot and glassy. Ward admitted to consuming two bottles of Corona at an Atlanta bar three hours before the traffic stop, and failed a series of sobriety tests.

“Mr. Ward could not keep his balance and started before instructed several times,” the officer wrote in the report. “He missed heel to toe, stepped off line, and conducted an improper turn.”

Ward blew a .128 on the less accurate portable test, above the legal limit of .08, and refused to take the state-administered Breathalyzer test.

The 35-year-old Ward issued a statement over the weekend through his agent, Andrew Ree, where he denied being impaired when he was behind the wheel on Saturday morning.