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+6 Peyton Manning +5 Dwight Freeney +4 Reggie Wayne +3 Dallas Clark +2 Jeff Saturday +1 Pierre Garcon +6 Maurice Jones-Drew +5 Marcedes Lewis +4 Mike Thomas +3 Vince Manuwai +2 Derek Cox +1 Greg Jones +6 Andre Johnson +5 Mario Williams +4 Matt Schaub +3 Owen Daniels +2 Arian Foster +1 DeMeco Ryans +6 Chris Johnson +5 Cortland Finnegan +4 Michael Roos +3 Kenny Britt +2 Dave Ball +1 Alterraun Verner

+6 Champ Bailey +5 Ryan Clady +4 Elvis Dumervil +3 DJ Williams +2 Brandon Lloyd +1 Knowshon Moreno +6 Nmandi Asomugha +5 Sebastian Janikowski +4 Darren McFadden +3 Richard Seymour +2 Michael Huff +1 Zach Miller +6 Antonio Gates +5 Philip Rivers +4 Marcus McNeil +3 Shaun Phillips +2 Eric Weddle +1 Malcolm Floyd +6 Jamaal Charles +5 Tamba Hali +4 Brandon Flowers +3 Derrick Johnson +2 Ryan Lilja +1 Glenn Dorsey

6 - Justin Tuck 5 - Chris Snee 4 - Ahmad Bradshaw 3 - Osi Umenyiora 2 - Hakeem Nicks 1 - Barry Cofield 6 - London Fletcher 5 - Brian Orakpo 4 - Santana Moss 3 - Chris Cooley 2 - LaRon Landry 1 - Donovan McNabb 6 - DeMarcus Ware 5 - Jason Witten 4 - Jay Ratliff 3 - Keith Brooking 2 - Tony Romo 1 - Miles Austin 6 - Trent Cole 5 - Shady McCoy 4 - Quintin Mikell 3 - David Akers 2 - Jeremy Maclin 1 - Michael Vick

6 - Julius Peppers 5 - Matt Forte 4 - Lance Briggs 3 - Israel Idonjie 2 - Brian Urlacher 1 - Johnny Knox 6 - Aaron Rodgers 5 - Clay Matthews 4 - Greg Jennings 3 - Charles Woodson 2 - BJ Raji 1 - Desmond Bishop 6 - Calvin Johnson 5 - Ndamukong Suh 4 - Cliff Avril 3 - Jahvid Best 2 - Brandon Pettigrew 1 - Louis Delmas 6 - Adrian Peterson 5 - Chad Greenway 4 - Kevin Williams 3 - Antoine Winfield 2 - EJ Henderson 1 - Jared Allen

+6 Patrick Willis +5 Vernon Davis +4 Justin Smith +3 Frank Gore +2 Nate Clements +1 Joe Staley +6 Steven Jackson +5 OJ Atogwe +4 James Laurinaitis +3 Chris Long +2 James Hall +1 Sam Bradford +6 Lofa Tatupu +5 Brandon Mebane +4 David Hawthorne +3 Earl Thomas +2 Justin Forsett +1 Chris Clemons +6 Larry Fitzgerald +5 Calais Campbell +4 Darnell Dockett +3 Kerry Rhodes +2 Lyle Sendelin +1 Adrian Wilson

just because you can say anything you want doesn't mean you should

this isn't a permanent change, just applies this year because of the labor disputes, teams can't trade any players and apparently some wording makes that apply to new draftees.

I did not realize that the Draft could be a casualty of the antitrust suit, but it does make sense, if you think about it the draft basically tells prospects where they can sign

just got an AFC South thread up

What harm would come from holding the draft if there's no season? What harm would come from not holding the draft and seeing the labor situation resolved in August? Which situation would you rather be in?

I'm not even sure where to start, so I guess I'll start from your first point: you can't rely too much on technology, it will fail, there have been a number of games where the headsets didn't work, whether that's technical failures or just crowd noise, there are times where that communication method doesn't work, so you have to allow for that to fail. Now where to go from here, it's not so much play calling that takes time, and I haven't argued that, perhaps I should have said 'hurry up' rather than 'no-huddle' in my last post, but all of my previous posts make my point clear. What takes time pre-snap is surveying the field, trying to figure out what the other side is doing, calling audibles and making adjustments. And really, you're trying to fix a problem that doesn't really exist.

exactly, cancelling the draft would be the NFL essentially admitting that there will be no 2011 season, and nobody wants to do that, certainly not at this point

I understand it, but unless it takes 15 seconds or more to set the ball (which it typically doesn't) you're still cutting the pre-snap time the offense has to work with, and if it does take 15 seconds or more to set the ball then you're not changing anything, if anything you're making it easier to run the clock out. You're basically asking the offense to run no-huddle the entire game, which completely changes the game and would probably lead to extremely sloppy play.

I still don't see what this discussion has to do with Pennington's injury, but I'll humor you with a response. I wasn't insinuating that boxing wasn't dangerous, in fact, quite the opposite. There is absolutely no way that Zbikowski would be allowed to box professionally or otherwise under his NFL contract, but because of the labor dispute going on those contracts are essentially suspended until the labor dispute reaches resolution and a new CBA is in effect. I was simply using him as the extreme to say that even having such provisions in place (which they generally are) does nothing right now because of the current labor situation. As far as this situation, you can't possibly think NFL players should be banned from pickup basketball games, do you realize how many teams have charity basketball games or other such sporting events? Do you think those should be discontinued? How are they any different?

given a choice of any QB, why not take the best?

most NFL contracts do have clauses in them limiting dangerous non football activities, but those limitations don't apply right now because of the labor issues, that's why Zbikowski can start boxing, and it has very little to do with this discussion, this was a pickup game, it's not like he was trying out for the Heat, so to parallel this with Deion Sanders (the only guy who's ever played in both a World Series and a Super Bowl) and Bo Jackson (an MLB and NFL All-Star) is a little beyond ridiculous, honestly at this point I'm wondering if Pennington can go for a jog without pulling a hammy

he was way over his head when he went in last year, I still think he needs at least another year or two before he's ready to start, but at the same time I think everyone should enter camp ready to compete for a starting spot, especially if you're the only guy under contract at your position, as true as it may be, if he said "there's no way the team should start me this year, they need to bring someone else in because I'll run the team into the shitter" I would want him cut immediately

This is their fourth installment of the position rankings, I've posted the other three here, so here are their TE rankings: 1. Jason Witten, Dallas Cowboys 2. Antonio Gates, San Diego Chargers 3. Dallas Clark, Indianapolis Colts 4. Vernon Davis, San Francisco 49ers 5. Chris Cooley, Washington Redskins 6. Tony Gonzalez, Atlanta Falcons 7. Kellen Winslow Jr., Tampa Bay 8. Marcedes Lewis, Jacksonville Jaguars 9. Brandon Pettigrew, Detroit Lions 10. Jermichael Finley, Green Bay http://espn.go.com/blog/afcwest/post/_/id/25756/power-rankings-top-10-nfl-tight-ends Discuss

these lists are a combination of ten bloggers' opinions, there's really no qualifications beyond their opinions, and I really haven't seen a lot of consistency in their qualifications, sometimes they've overvalued players based on upside, other times they've undervalued players who have just hit the map

I was surprised to see Gates below Witten, but then I realized that, like their RB rankings, there was only 1 point between first and second

reading the article, they talked about how deep the talent pool at TE is right now in the league and a few of the bloggers made a conscious decision to leave rookies off their lists with the idea of looking at consistency

I'm pretty sure the players have said they'd be happy to reopen negotiations if the owners would open the books, true it's a little more complicated since decertification, but there's still time for negotiating

to be fair, the Packers are publicly owned so their books are already open, but still, kudos for being willing to do what it takes and I hope more owners get on board

it's not just Peyton, it would completely change offensive play calling, far too many plays, by every team, are snapped in the last ten seconds of the play clock for me to think it would be anywhere near worth it, it'd be like running no huddle all game I might agree with the last two minutes of the half, the only thing it would really affect would be kneel downs, which are really more frustrating than anything else, since if a team isn't ahead they're not going to take 25 seconds to call a play, and it would make the end of the half/game more exciting

it would work in Madden, but not in real football, too much needs to happen between plays, Peyton Manning wouldn't be nearly as effective with 15 seconds less to read the defense and call his audibles