Quote of the Week I

Myron Cope, a former SI contributor and inventor of the Pittsburgh Steelers' famed Terrible Towel, died last week at 79. AP

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"Eight million a year for a quarterback who made the Pro Bowl and who basically saved all our jobs ... yeah, I'd say he's worth it.''

--Cleveland GM Phil Savage, defending quarterback Derek Anderson's three-year, $24-million contract.

Quote of the Week II

"I just want to be able to win and get back to the Super Bowl.''

--Philadelphia cornerback Asante Samuel, who got $20 million guaranteed in a six-year, $57 million contract with the Eagles on Friday.

If that's what was most important, then why didn't Samuel stay with New England? Does he, or his agent, really think the Eagles have a better shot to get back to the Super Bowl than the Patriots in the next two or three years?

"I just want to be able to win and get back to the Super Bowl.''

You know what I want? I want one of these guys, just once, to say, "You know, I do want to win, but facts are facts. The Patriots were only going to pay me $6 million a year. The Eagles went to $9.5M a year. Do I look that stupid to turn down all that money?'' But no. We have to hear this phony stuff about how players sign with lesser teams because they really want to win. Save us.

Quote of the Week III

"I've often thought that, when I kick the bucket, there'd be a story that said, 'Creator of towel, dead.' I would like to be remembered as a pretty decent writer.''

--Myron Cope, upon his retirement from the Steelers broadcast booth in 2005 after a record 35 years doing the games. Cope, who invented "The Terrible Towel,'' died Wednesday of respiratory failure in Pittsburgh at 79.

More about him below. Much more.

Quote of the Week IV

"If you look at my stats compared to anyone else over my seven-year career, I think they match up pretty well.''

--Defensive end Justin Smith, who signed a six-year, $45-million contract with the 49ers Saturday.

OK. Let's look and see if that's true.

Since 2001, when Smith broke into the NFL, 22 players have more sacks than Smith's 43.5. Not just the megastars such as Jason Taylor (86) or Michael Strahan (79.5), either. Even the strong run defenders, which Smith would claim to be, have given their teams more in pass-rush skill since '01. Aaron Schobel of Buffalo, picked 42 spots after Smith went fourth overall in the '01 draft, has 67 sacks in his pro career. Derrick Burgess, more a rush end, was chosen 59 spots after Smith in 2001; he has started half as many games as Smith, and has the identical number of sacks, 43.5.

Smith has averaged 66.6 tackles per season, or about four per game. Certainly not an embarrassing number. But is that package worth $7.5 million a year?

Stat of the Week

Tommy Kelly has 13 sacks in 49 career games with the Raiders as a defensive lineman. On Thursday, Oakland signed him to the biggest contract for a defensive player in club history -- seven years, $50 million, with $18 million in guaranteed money.

On Friday, the Raiders made a slightly-better-than-pedestrian safety, Gibril Wilson of the Giants, the third-highest-paid safety in football, signing him to a six-year, $39-million deal. Some $16 million of the contract is guaranteed.

We could argue for a long time whether football is a coach's game or a player's game. But there's no doubt the Raiders put their eggs in the players' basket. They've just guaranteed two players who never made the Pro Bowl more money -- each of them -- than the full contracts for their last three coaches combined.

You can look it up. The combined salaries for Norv Turner, Art Shell and Lane Kiffin add up to $13.5 million over seven years.

Factoid of the Week That May Interest Only Me

Cleveland is without picks in the first, second and third rounds of the April draft. The Browns are slated to pick first with the ninth pick from the bottom of Round 4. (We're not sure of the exact number, because there will be several compensatory picks at the end of the third round awarded later this month for teams that lost prime free-agents last year. But Cleveland's first pick will be around the 122nd overall choice.)

The draft will begin at 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 26, three hours later than normal because there will be only two rounds selected Saturday and the final five on Sunday. Barring a trade up, the Browns won't make their first pick Sunday until about 2:50 p.m., if history is a good judge of the timing of these things.

Enjoyable/Aggravating Travel Note of the Week

I'm finishing this column at JFK Airport in New York. By the time you read this, I'll be walking the streets of Istanbul -- I hope -- passing time before connecting to get on with an USO/NFL trip to Afghanistan. You'll be reading about it here, I hope, beginning Tuesday. Excuse me for not answering your mail this week, but there are some soldiers we've got to meet.

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