NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

Rumors have been flying during the offseason about the Rams and the Eagles possibly being interested in obtaining running back Reggie Bush and the Saints have made it clear that they would love to have Bush back “at the right price.”

According to Jason LaCanfora of NFL Network, however,it may actually be the Dolphins who set the market price for Bush.

The addition of Bush would bode well for rookie Daniel Thomas, who would likely still dominate carries in that scenario. Bush would handle third downs and probably return punts. And it is one more sign that Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams are goners.

Did you know the ESPY Awards were happening on Wednesday night?

Me neither.

Anyways, the ESPY Awards were happening on Wednesday and, of course, Adrian Peterson was there.  On the red carpet, Peterson gave a quote that wasn't quite as entertaining to dissect as his "modern day slavery" quote, but entertaining none-the-less.

"I have to meet Halle Berry," Peterson said after, I assume, some stupid reporter asked him an equally stupid question. "She's a gorgeous woman. I don't kiss feet at all, but she has good features and her feet are one of those features. So, you know, I'd kiss her feet."

Peterson will also be a featured guest editor of July 27^th's version of ESPN Magazine which he says gives him a chance to do something different and also consider his options after his football playing years are over with.

"God willing, I'd like to go into broadcasting or maybe coaching," he said. "But that's many years away."

No offense to Adrian, but I have a hard time seeing him in a broadcast booth, but coaching sure seems like it could be up his alley.

This is a make-or-break year for Broncos running back Knowshon Moreno. According to columnist Woody Paige of the Denver Post.

Former coach Josh McDaniels and his staff thought privately that they had made a big mistake in drafting Moreno. “He was not what they thought. He hasn’t been tough, smart, motivated. He has been a bust. I’ve said it before. He’s not a great clubhouse guy. Interpret that how you want, and he’s been a wimp on the field.”

John Fox is bringing back the zone blocking, and Moreno is not a one-cut back who will go against the grain, or, at least, he hasn’t been, and he doesn’t get into the secondary fast. They need another running back bad, and Fox, in our three-hour conversation last week, said running back is the priority, along with defensive tackles, in free agency.

It doesn’t help that Moreno has not been showing up at any of the player-organized workouts during the lockout.

On Tuesday Plaxico Burress said that the Bears are one of the top three teams he is considering signing with once the NFL labor woes are resolved.

Chicago Tribune beat writer Vaughn McClure reports that the Bears aren’t interested in Plaxico’s services. It’s “not happening,” says beat writer Vaughn McClure.

“No matter how much he adores them.” The Bears reportedly came to this conclusion after doing “extensive research” on Burress before he went to prison two years ago. That stance hasn’t changed since, even if Plax is willing to sign on the cheap.

Matt Bryant has seen it all in his NFL years of kicking, and while the 36-year-old free agent wants to be in the NFL in 2011, some comments he made about former coach Jon Gruden are drawing more interest than that of who Bryant may be kicking for this season.

Bryant told The Record reporter Joe Kazmar he hopes to play a few more seasons in NFL, and that he would again love to kick for friend and former head coach in Gruden. Bryant went so far as to say he thinks Gruden will be coaching by 2012.

“Gruden was 100 per cent committed to his job and was always very focused on what he was doing,” Bryant said. “He got fired right after he signed a three-year extension. I believe Gruden will return to coaching after this season when the money from his extension runs out. We are still very good friends.”

Gruden compiled a 95-81 regular season record and 5-4 post-season record in 11 seasons as a head coach in the NFL, beginning with the Oakland Raiders from 1998-2001 and continuing with the Buccaneers from 2002-08. The Buccaneers won Super Bowl XXXVII in Gruden’s first season in Tampa, beating the Raiders 48-21.

Now an analyst on ESPN’s Monday Night Football, Gruden has been linked to several head coaching positions, both college and pro, over the last three years. Gruden has also declared himself the head of the “Fired Football Coaches Association” and has been putting the top quarterbacks in the NFL draft under the microscope in the “Gruden’s QB Camp” series on ESPNU.

During the first episode of 2011, Gruden was telling University of Washington quarterback Jake Locker that thick skin was a necessity in the NFL, pointing out that even a Super Bowl win didn’t keep him from being fired. Gruden added that “he’ll be back someday”.

“Someday” may be January 2012.

Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant countered critical statements by Deion Sanders, saying Wednesday that he’s ready to move on from any negative perceptions that exist about him according to ESPNDallas.com.

Sanders, a former mentor to Bryant, told Atlanta’s WCNN on Tuesday that the Cowboys are more concerned than he is about the young player. But the 22-year-old receiver told 103.3 FM’s “Ben and Skin Show” that there is no reason to worry.

“All I know is everybody’s entitled to their own opinion,” Bryant said. “In my eyes, I feel like the Cowboys have nothing to worry about. I’m getting everything done like I’m supposed to do. I’m ready to go out and play football and do what I do best.”

Bryant congratulated Sanders for his upcoming induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and insisted that he’s not caught up in any differences between himself and the former NFL cornerback.

“My focus is on the Cowboys,” Bryant said. “Whatever is said about that situation that can be said, I’m done with it, I’m just ready to move on.”

Randy Moss had 28 catches for fewer than 400 yards and just five touchdowns last season after bouncing around between the Patriots, Vikings, and Titans.

Joe Segal, his agent says his client is working out hard and in “freakish shape.” Moss is looking forward to free agency this year.

“Randy has been working out, two-a-days, all spring and summer in West Virginia,” Segal told Jason La Canfora of NFL Network.

“He is determined, motivated and quite frankly has a huge chip on his shoulder. Whatever team ends up getting Randy, they’re going to know they’re getting the old Randy Moss. He’s not just coming in to be on the team, he’s going to be Randy Moss — a difference maker.”

The fallout from the James Harrison interview continues, as now the agent for Brian Cushing, the Texans LB who was slammed in the interview, is speaking out.

Drew Rosenhaus, who represents Cushing along with a ton of other NFL players, says that Harrison's comments about Cushing in the much talked about Men's Journal interview are simply too much.

"I thought [Harrison's] comments were way out of line," Rosenhaus told Joe Rose of WQAM in Miami. "He doesn't know the first thing about Brian Cushing or Brian Cushing's situation. And to me that's an awful thing to do to talk about people that you don't know, and that you don't know the first thing about them or their situation. And I think that the league should discipline players who just run their mouth and insult other people and take shots at other people, really in a careless fashion and in a way that is uneducated."

Harrison stated that Cushing was "juiced out of his mind." The Texans LB had to serve a suspension for the first four games of 2010 for violating the league's steroid policy.

Rosenhaus believes that the Steelers should discipline Harrison for conduct detrimental to the team, even though the comments came during the lockout.

Cushing himself has also responded to the comments by Harrison, telling FOX 26 in Houston, "I'll pray for him."

The two teams will play in 2011 in Houston.

On Wednesday, six NFL owners — Panthers owner Jerry Richardson, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Giants co-owner John Mara, Steelers owner Art Rooney, Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones — attended the negotiating sessions with a team from the NFL Players Association.

All six are members of the 10-member NFL Management Council Executive Committee, which Richardson co-chairs.

Today, Albert Breer of the NFL Network reports that two more members of that committee — Green Bay Packers CEO Mark Murphy and San Diego Chargers owner Dean Spanos — have joined the proceedings.

The only two who are absent are Bengals owner Mike Brown and Broncos owner and committee co-chair Pat Bowlen.

On the players’ side, NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith is once again joined by Indianapolis Colts center Jeff Saturday, Baltimore Ravens cornerback Domonique Foxworth, free agent Pro Bowl right tackle Tyson Clabo, retired NFL wide receiver Sean Morey, and retired guard Pete Kendall.