NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

By Broncos Gab Columnist Greg Hughes

The preseason is effectively over for Kyle Orton and the rest of the players who have a roster spot.  For the undrafted rookies and journeymen players, the fourth and final preseason game could be the difference between watching from the sidelines and watching from home.

I'd say overall we made it out of the preseason much like every year, with a few key defensive players injured.  Personally I feel the injury to LB D.J. Williams will be the worst, even though he's only set to miss 2-3 regular season games.  

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Couldn't resist

A lot of speculation has been centering on the possibility that the Seattle Seahawks might part ways with last years second round draft choice Golden Tate.

It seems like a hasty move, wide receivers have more of a learning curve than most others positions to and it often takes several seasons to finally start geling.

As improbable as it is for a squad to completely cut bait with a high draft choice, I wouldn’t rule it out because Pete Carroll has already sort of done this before.

Remember EJ Wilson?

No he wasn’t a second round choice, but he was a fourth round selection, and those are still considered highly valuable. If you remember another Seahawk and another Wilson, Josh Wilson, got dealt for a fifth round selection recently and he parlayed that into a 3 year, $13.5 million deal. He’s by all means a good starting caliber player and he got had for a fifth round draft choice.

Wilson didn’t even make it through his entire rookie campaign and was cut during the regular season after a lone tackle. Seattle actually made a trade to acquire the pick they used to draft Wilson, if that adds anything to the equation. Actually, that trade is what brought Chris Clemons to Seattle, so that’s something to be thankful for.

The bottom line is that except at quarterback (you can scowl now), it’s open competition everywhere. James Carpenter might be getting benched, John Moffitt could be getting replaced by veteran Andre Gurode, Brandon Browner may be given the nod over Walter Thurmond.

And undrafted rookie free agent Doug Baldwin is currently outplaying Golden Tate. Roster spots are precious and when Carroll drafted Tate he wasn’t envisioning the corpse of Mike Williams becoming a legitimate starting receiver. When he went and drafted Kris Durham in the fourth round, it’s not like he knew it was a slam dunk he could acquire pro bowler Sidney Rice.

So in essence, the lockout helped create a logjam at receiver. Without the lockout Seattle may have never drafted Durham after they acquired Rice BEFORE the lockout (in a normal season). It’s well known that Carroll likes tall receivers and cornerbacks; they have the tallest cornerback in the league fittingly enough in the 6″4 Browner and four guys (healthy) who stand at 6″5 (Rice is 6″4.56543… something), at receiver and tight end.

Now with Durham in the fold and Baldwin performing very well this pre-season, it may push Tate out of a job. Instead of blasting Carroll for “failing” with a high draft choice if this does happen, just look at the above circumstances, he drafted and made decisions based on the current roster, not what he thought he might be able to go out and potentially get. It depends on how many receivers they decide to keep, if they only decide to keep five, I believe he may be the odd man out. If they decide to keep more, his roster spot is probably safe, for how long though, is up in the air.

Kind of like the oval shaped balls he can’t quite seem to get under yet.

By Redskins Gab Columnist Patrick Rice

We are closing in on the 2011 NFL season and the quarterback of the Washington Redskins has yet to be named. In the well-publicized battle between John Beck and Rex Grossman, there is one thing that is common ground amongst both fans and the media…the winner probably will not have a strong season.

Neither of them have had sensational careers by any means nor is this your fathers quarterback scenario of Sonny Jergensen and Billy Kilmer. All these facts are reported everyday by the Washington/National media and have led to some negative feelings toward the Washington Redskins. ESPN the magazine picked the Redskins to finish 3-13 and will cause some Redskins fans to put up the white flag before the season begins. Well, after looking into the past decade of Redskins quarterbacks, I have come away with an interesting outlook for the second most important figure in the District.

Let's say the quarterback for the Skins puts up these numbers: 20 TD's, 16 INT's, 3712 yards, 58.2 % of his passes completed and a quarterback rating of 75 (Note: That is the old rating system). You may be asking yourself where I got these numbers and what they mean exactly.

Glad you asked. Over the past decade, those numbers would indicate an average season for a Washington Redskins quarterback. 13 different quarterbacks have manned the position over the past decade: Brad Johnson, Jeff George, Tony Banks, Shane Matthews, Danny Wuerffell, Patrick Ramsey, Todd Collins, Jason Campbell, Donovan McNabb and Rex Grossman. With the exception of Todd Collins miracle run in 2007, all their numbers were maddeningly mediocre.

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This one came out of nowhere and mildly stinks of Edgerrin James 2.0…

But I really like Portis, and he had top end speed at one point, which means even with age the guy is pretty fast, certainly moreso than Beast Mode.

Confirmed reports have him visiting the Seahawks today. Seattle has also hosted veteran FB Mike Karney and C Andre Gurode in the coming days before the regular season kicks off.

He obviously hasn’t stirred up much interest on the open market, so his signing will be cheap, “name” aside. Certainly he will be cheaper than an Andre Gurode might end up costing.

Is Foster’s Hamstring Torn?

Houston Texans star running back Arian Foster could be in danger of missing the regular season opener against the Colts.

Not only is there a legitimate possibility of Foster missing week one against Indy, but he could be sidelined for an even longer period of time.

With Derrick Ward and Ben Tate behind the former Tennessee standout, could the Texans be extra cautious and hold out one of their key players?

Sure, it makes sense, but there’s also concern about Arian’s hamstring being more serious than originally expected.

To read more about the situation concerning Foster’s injury visit Texans Gab

Appearing on NFL Network’s Total Access, Michael Lombardi said Tuesday that the Titans are “ready to make the offer” that will get running back Chris Johnson to report for practice and so he will be there for the 2011 season opener vs the Jaguars.

Lombardi characterized the Titans’ approach as “very aggressive” because they want to get a deal done this week. After finalizing Michael Vick’s contract, agent Joel Segal has his full attention on a new contract for Johnson. According to Lombardi, there hasn’t been any hostility, “they’ve opened up the bank vault,” and “it looks like they’re going to pay him.” Lombardi believes it’s “not too optimistic” to expect a new deal this weekend.

Saints QB Brees Getting Set for a Huge Payday

Reports say that another big name QB is going to be getting his payday soon.

Drew Brees, who helped the Saints win their first Super Bowl two years ago, is next on the list of QB’s that will be getting an extension from the team in the Big Easy.

Peyton Manning of the Colts just got his big deal, and Michael Vick just scored a $100 million dollar deal from the Eagles, meaning that Brees’ agent, Tom Condon, has something to go off of when talking to New Orleans.

Brees is entering the final season of a $60 million, six-year contract. "I did see it,” Brees said of Vick’s contract, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “It looks like a nice contract. Obviously I don’t know any of the details other than the six years and $100 million.”

Could Brees be the next quarterback to join the $100 million club, although the Vick numbers are inflated by a final year that will void. “They’ve been in discussions,” Brees said. “That’s been ongoing.”

The 49ers have made running back Frank Gore a very happy and very rich man, coming to terms with their workhorse back on a three-year deal that will play him $13.5 million in guaranteed money and $21 million overall.

Gore was due to earn $4.9 million in 2011, the final season of his four-year, $27.577 million extension from 2007.

The 28-year-old running back is coming off a fractured hip that limited him to just 11 games in 2010 and ended the two-time Pro Bowlers streak of 1,000-yard seasons at four. Gore has also added 270 receptions for 2,283 yards and nine touchdowns during his six-year career.

Agent Jason Rosenhaus said last night that Gore had agreed to terms on a new three-year contract extension that keeps him with the team through 2014.

Gore said earlier yesterday that his primary agent, Drew Rosenhaus, had a productive, all-day meeting with team brass Monday. Gore said he instructed Rosenhaus to contact him when there was what he considered a "fair'' offer on the table.

"Positive that they met face to face,'' Gore said. "Drew felt good about everything.''

Both sides had been throwing around plenty of praise for the other party. 49ers team president Jed York and general manager Trent Baalke said they wanted Gore to be a "49er for life.''

The Browns have already locked up LT Joe Thomas with a huge deal, and now next on the list could be popular running back Peyton Hillis.

Acquired from Denver in the Brady Quinn deal, the former seventh-round pick out of Arkansas had a monster 2010. The 6-foot-1, 246-pound Hillis had 270 carries for 1,177 yards and 11 touchdowns.

He also became the fan favorite of the 5-11 Browns, eventually carrying that to the cover of the new “Madden 12″ video game, beating out Eagles QB Michael Vick in the finals.

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