NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

Adam Schefter of ESPN is reporting that free agent quarterback Matt Hasselbeck has signed a multi-year deal with the Tennessee Titans.

Hasselbeck is definitely cashing in on his likability, smarts and experience but also on his Wild Card Weekend performance – 22/35, 272, 4 TD, 1 INT – because his TD-to-INT ratio has been 34-44 his last three injury-plagued seasons.

When Pete Carroll was head coach of the USC Trojans, they were the dominant powerhouse for the majority of his tenure. As someone coming up in High School and knowing all along I would attend Washington State University, I naturally paid attention to (then) Pac-10 football.

For awhile, my school actually had a good head coach named Mike Price and it seems hard to believe that this Division 3 team Paul Wulff has created was in the Rose Bowl not even a decade ago. Bowl games were an expectation for my Cougars and we were always a decent team on the precipice of the Rose Bowl success his tenure ended with.

Whenever Pete Carroll and USC was on the docket though, even in the days we were considered a quality team, you just saw an L next to it, there was no way around it. Most Pac 10 teams felt the same way. After his inaugural season, he did only lose a combined 9 games from 2002-2008 during their reign.

Sanctions aside, bullshit aside, “official win, loss record***” aside, they were dominant and even if Pete Carroll knew or didn’t know about Reggie Bushes momma’s house it doesn’t change the fact he frequently steamrolled the competition.

After reports broke that the Seahawks are close to terms with his former golden boy Matt Leinart, it does indeed look like he is trying to recreate USC in Seattle to some capacity.

Once Reggie Bush is released Pete Carroll is only that signing away from potentially having Matt Leinart throwing to Mike Williams and handing the ball off to Reggie Bush once again. Not to mention that the quarterback of his defense is also one of his former stars; Lofa Tatupu.

The last one isn’t intentional, but could you call the other three aligning merely a coincidence?

It would be very, very interesting to see this occur. To have the stars align and to have these three players back playing together.  They were at their best together and who is to say they can’t be at their best once again at the next level? They rose each others level of play to the point all three got selected in the top 10 of the NFL Draft.

As pesimistic as I am about losing Hasselbeck and not pursuing someone like Kyle Orton. I am also just as intrigued to see if Pete Carroll can pull off what may have been his potential master plan all along.

With the recent acquisition of quarterback and speculated 2011 starter Tarvaris Jackson it comes as no surprise that the Seahawks are stepping up their pursuit of former Vikings receiver Sidney Rice.

Multiple NFL sources confirmed Tuesday night that the Seattle Seahawks are making a strong play for the 24 year old receiver and former target of Tarvaris Jackson. The report also only includes the Vikings and Seahawks as the only teams bidding on arguably the top receiver available on the market.

I doubt the Seahawks are the only team interested in Rice and this is going to be a chaotic period, but it may very well be that he has already narrowed his options down to Seattle and Minnesota.

If Seattle strikes out on Rice, I would expect them to pursue Santonio Holmes and Braylon Edwards, with the latter the more realistic target. I just think the Redskins have already snatched up Holmes similar to how Seattle is trying to snatch up Rice.

Top Flight Cover Corner

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter via Twitter, the Pittsburgh Steelers have decided to keep their best defensive back outside of Troy Polamalu:

Rock Solid Middle Man

The Jacksonville Jaguars have agreed to a six-year deal with Buffalo Bills free agent linebacker Paul Posluszny, acc0rding to sources via ESPN’s John Clayton.  The contract is believed to be worth $7 million per year.

The 27-year old Posluszny mulled over the decision, a source said, because he wanted to remain in Buffalo.  Rather than play in the Bills 3-4 system, the Penn State product (’07 second round) opted to join the Jags and play middle linebacker in their 4-3 defense.

The former Nittany Lion led the Bills with 151 tackles last season.

In a move that was expected as soon as free agency started, the 49′ers have given quarterback Alex Smith a one-year deal that reports say is worth $5 mil.

San Francisco picked Colin Kaepernick in the second round out of Nevada in April’s draft, but Smith had been expected to return as the 49ers’ starting quarterback.

Despite being a free agent, the 27-year-old Smith organized the 49ers’ player workouts during the lockout. The top pick in 2005 said he made the decision to return to the 49ers after speaking with new coach Jim Harbaugh and, in part, because he wants to prove he wasn’t a Bay Area bust.

The Eagles have elected not to resign any of their free agents this offseason, meaning that they are either putting all of their trust into the rookies drafted, or have big plans in the way of signing current free agents. Now that the gates have opened, players are being jotted into contracts left and right, and the Eagles need to get in on the action and fill one of their biggest needs — Middle Linebacker.

With the decision to not resign any current free agents on the team, the Eagles are letting go long-time starter Stewart Bradley. Leaving very few linebackers on the roster, one of which — Akeem Jordan, may be suspended for breaking the conduct policy during the NFL Lockout. However, Andy Reid did plan for the future, as the Eagles drafted three linebackers this season as insurance in Casey Matthews, Brian Rolle, and Greg Lloyd.

The Eagles also still have potential breakout linebacker Jamar Chaney under contract, who filled in like a true starter while Bradley was down with injury last season. But Chaney is still young, and Philadelphia has only been able to test him in a short period. The Eagles have no idea how Chaney will perform over a 16 game season, plus the playoffs. My personal thought is that he is still a bit young to be the full-time starter.

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As NFL free agency has kicked off, the NY Daily News is reporting that veteran free agent offensive lineman Damien Woody is going to retire.

Woody was only to play for the Jets. He must not have liked what he heard from the team earlier in the day. Coming off a torn Achilles at age 33, he was a poor bet to land a guaranteed deal. Woody began his career as a two-time Super Bowl champ and Pro Bowl center with the Patriots and ended it as a dominant run-blocking right tackle.

The former first round pick of the Pats back in 1999 was taken 17th overall, and is now 33 years old. He played in his career with New England, Detroit and the past three with the Jets and Rex Ryan. Back in March of 2008 he and the Jets came to terms on a five-year, $25 million contract with $11 million in guaranteed money.

Jenny Vrentas of the Newark Star-Ledger reports that the Jets have extended an offer to prize free agent wide receiver Santonio Holmes.

Terms of the offer were not immediately available. The timing is interesting, as news came soon after receiver Santana Moss reportedly agreed to a 3-year, $15 million deal with the Redskins, per ESPN. Washington was expected to be one of the teams in hot pursuit of Holmes, with the potential to price other teams out.

The Jets’ strategy is to concentrate on their own free agents. Word earlier in the day was that the Jets had already been in contact with wide receiver Braylon Edwards, cornerback Antonio Cromartie, and right tackle Wayne Hunter. Interest in Edwards may wane if Holmes bites at the Jets’ offer.

While teams are unable to officially release any players until Thursday, it appears that WR Roy Williams, RB Marion Barber, and G Leonard Davis will not be with the team this season. ESPN.com is reporting that all three players have received phone calls today informing them they will no longer be Dallas Cowboys.

The Cowboys were expected to be sitting around $17 million over this year's $120 million salary cap. With the cutting of Williams they will save $5 million, Barber $4.7 million, and Davis $6 million. Those cuts will put the Cowboys close to the cap. While they don't currently have a lot of wiggle room, Jerry Jones has said that he will try to re-work the contracts of LB DeMarcus Ware, QB Tony Romo, and WR Miles Austin in order to give the team more room to sign free agents and rookies.

Williams time in Dallas was volatile at best. He never lived up to his big contract numbers and didn't really mesh with Tony Romo. Williams was often the odd receiver out and that never sat well with Cowboys fans. Since being elevated to the starter, Marion Barber never regained his "barbarian" form. As a result, he too, lost favour with fans. As for Davis, he was doing great until last year. Davis seemed to slow down and had probably the worst season he has ever had. He was benched early in the season and, despite playing, never really looked himself. Now the Cowboys will look forward to players like Dez Bryant, Felix Jones and DeMarco Murray. As for the offensive line, right now, nobody knows.