TEN THINGS I THINK I THINK

	Free-agent wide receiver Plaxico Burress may have to sign a one-year contract for next season. David Maxwell/Getty Images

1. I think the biggest mistake of this NFL free-agency period, after the scorecard of every team's moves is tallied sometime in late June, will prove to be Plaxico Burress turning down $8 million in guaranteed bonus money to sign with the Giants and be Eli Manning's go-to guy. That decision is going to haunt Burress for a very long time. The Giants were going to pay Burress $14 million over the first three years of the deal. I'm amazed he walked away from making more money than anyone thought he'd be offered, and I'm amazed he doesn't see the tremendous marketing and on-field opportunities New York and Manning would afford him. His next step may be a one-year deal with Philadelphia, to position himself better for free agency in 2006. Now there's a bright move. Raise your stock by playing second-fiddle to Terrell Owens and catching 46 balls.

2. I think a whole lot of coaches, owners and players in the NFL have butterflies in their stomachs today over the Tice/Super Bowl ticket-scalping story. Because, as you've heard by now, it's a fairly universal thing. One recently retired player told me last week the day the Super Bowl tickets were paid for and distributed by his team, there was a ticket broker in the players' parking lot paying cash for the seats. Max was $1,500, minimum was $1,200, depending on location. And, this player said, some guys chose to broker their own tickets, thinking they could get more for them. The best part of it, obviously, was it was a cash transaction. I've also heard that some owners have financed their players' and employees' Super Bowl trips (right down to the charter flight and hotel costs) via massive re-selling of thousands of tickets, or packaging the tickets in expensive combo deals to sell to fans.

3. I think the NFL has to make a hard and fast policy about the re-selling of these tickets, or Tice is right: He'll be a scapegoat for what everybody else is doing.

4. I think the best deal of the past week was the Raiders' signing of defensive end Derrick Burgess, who was Philadelphia's best defensive player in the postseason this year. He's a little-bit-thicker version of Dwight Freeney. Remember what Burgess did to Michael Vick in the NFC title game? He and Jevon Kearse hemmed in Vick, not allowing him to run the final 47 minutes of the game. Burgess sacked Vick twice, then got Tom Brady in the Super Bowl once when he turnstiled overmatched New England tackle Brandon Gorin. I don't love what the Raiders have done this offseason, particularly with cornerback Charles Woodson -- a $10.5 million dead weight on their salary cap. But Saturday was a very, very good day for Oakland. This is one the Eagles shouldn't have let get away.

5. I think you saw the pace of signings slow down considerably last week, and it's going to ease up even more. I can't believe how many media types are wringing their hands and seem so stunned that Shaun Alexander and Edgerrin James are getting no action out there as Seattle and Indy, respectively, try to find takers for them. People, understand this: Not only will teams have to pay a high draft pick or picks for Alexander and James, they'll also have to pay the players -- and I'm rough-guessing here -- $7 million a year. I'm sure some team or teams will take the bait on at least one of them. But with a glut of backs available in the draft and via trade -- most who will cost far less -- and with the very top ones fresh bodies instead of veteran ones, the market for current great backs naturally won't be very big.

6. I think in the span of 12 months the Vikings have gone from having one of the bottom-three cornerback situations in the NFL to having one of the top three. Antoine Winfield performed at an All-Pro level for two-thirds of the season last year, covering well and punishing in run support, and now that Fred Smoot's on board, Minnesota's secondary won't be easy to pick on.

7. I think these are my spring training thoughts of the week:

a. Saw Matt Mantei, the former Diamondback and now Red Sox reliever, pitch an interesting inning at Dunedin Friday afternoon. Faced four batters. Threw first-pitch balls to all. Now for the good news: He blew away Vernon Wells and Corey Koskie, Nos. 3-4 in the Toronto order. That's what the Sox will ask him to do all year, if his perennially wounded wing can hold up. Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe tells me Mantei's looked good so far.

b. Nice spring training lineup by the Sox the other day. No Ramirez, Damon, Nixon, Bellhorn, Renteria, Millar. We did get to see Simon Pond, though. And Ian Bladergroen. Seriously. Minor-league first-sacker.

c. No NFL training camp can match the citrusy, dewey smell and 72-degree sunny skies of 8 a.m in Sunrise, Ariz.

d. Nice guys I met along the way: Al Kaline, Troy Percival, Alan Trammell, Casey Blake, Aaron Boone, Eric Wedge, El Duque Hernandez, Mark Buehrle, Scott Podsednik, Johan Santana, Joe Nathan, Ron Gardenhire, Tony Pena, David DeJesus, Zack Greinke and the general managers. Eminently coverable.

e. El Duque to me: "I am so sorry for my English." Me to him: "That's OK, I don't speak any Spanish."

f. Heard from the Red-clad crowd leaving Phils-Twins game: "E-A-G-L-E-S! EAGLES!" Cheese-steakers are everywhere.

8. I think the Giants should wait until June and take the best available wideout -- for cheap -- to camp. That may come in the second round of a rich draft.

9. I think one of the reasons no one's taken a shot on restricted free-agent running back Najeh Davenport became evident this weekend at the Packers' first Fan Fest in Green Bay. Davenport showed up with a brace on his shoulder, and coach Mike Sherman said he'd had some surgery to clean out some damage. According to Sherman, Davenport's rehab would take about eight to 10 weeks. As I said last week, and I'm sticking with it even in light of the surgery, this is a great opportunity to get a potential great player cheap.

10. I think these are my non-football and non-baseball thoughts of the week:

a. Missed House. Bumming.

b. Missed much of the news, too. But doesn't it seem like there's been a lot of mass killing recently? That poor judge in Chicago, too.

c. Dan Rather is getting too much crap now that he has retired. Imagine working for a place and being the cornerstone for a long time, and then having guys in your own shop -- like Walter Cronkite, for crying out loud -- stab you in the back on the way out. Tough place, CBS.

d. I feel for southwest Florida. I really do. There's still so much hurricane damage here from last fall's storm. After the initial coverage of a story like that, we tend to treat it like out of sight, out of mind. Not for the folks who still have massive piles of house and debris on their property.

e. Coffeenerdness: At the 7-Elevens in Lakeland and Fort Myers, Fla., the coffee craze in this country has gotten totally out of control. Among the flavored coffees brewed there: strawberry-banana.