|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Leaving Minnesota Smith retirement latest hurdle for Vikings to overcome
Updated: Friday February 09, 2001 9:47 AM
So, what will the Vikings do now that they've lost the NFC's leading rusher, Robert Smith, to his stunning retirement? Here's a hint: If you play fantasy football, trade for Moe Williams. Right now. The Vikings, under head coach and roster-builder Dennis Green, have gone against the grain several times by giving little-known guys on the roster starting chances. Daunte Culpepper, Matt Birk, Ed McDaniel and Robert Griffith all were bench players early in their Minnesota careers, all stars now. The Vikings believe in player development as much as any NFL team. That's why they'll go to training camp, barring a surprise, with Williams, their 1996 third-round pick who has been Smith's steady understudy, as the No. 1 back. Add the Vikings' tenuous salary-cap situation -- the club is listed as being $11 million over the 2001 cap, but sources say with current contractual obligations it's more like $19 million -- and you can be sure they'll try to replace Smith from within, even though Williams has just 69 carries in four NFL seasons. Will Smith ever return? Highly doubtful. Though just 28, he's made more than $20 million in his short career and isn't a material man. He's also maniacally concerned about his health. He once looked at a former Viking running back limping around at a team function and said: "I don't want to grow old like that."
X-ratingsThe XFL obviously has done a great job marketing and planning a league that went on national TV only a year after it went up on the drawing board. The 9.5 national rating for its first-ever game on NBC last week -- and it got a higher rating on its minor-league UPN affiliates than the NHL All-Star Game got on ABC -- means the league will be around for a while. But how long? The XFL is determined not to repeat the mistakes the last Triple-A football league, the USFL, made 16 years ago. The USFL had a nice little spring thing going, but rich owners wanted to compete against the NFL in the fall and failed. NBC Sports president Dick Ebersol, whose network controls half of the XFL, vowed to me this week the league will not make the same mistake. No matter what success the XFL has, Ebersol said two elements of its future are absolutely inflexible. The XFL will remain a winter-spring league, he promised, and will not consider a move to the fall. "Never," he told me. "We've got solid NASCAR programming that we'll build around for the long term in the fall." And the XFL will not succumb to the temptation of violating its salary structure for a few stars, which has been the downfall of all prior independent leagues in the past except the AFL in the 1960s. All XFL players make between $35,000 and $50,000, depending strictly on position. What does this mean? Even though the ratings will inevitably slide, look for the XFL to have a long life as a high minor league as long as it stays true to its winter/spring, low-rent concept.
Chmura comebackFinally, tight end Mark Chmura will certainly find a home in the NFL once the league adjudicates his case sometime in the next month. Here are his three best options: 1. Philadelphia. Andy Reid was once Chmura's position coach in Green Bay. Reid is fond of Chmura to this day and could give him a shot to back up Pro Bowler Chad Lewis at the right price. 2. Oakland. The Raiders may lose Rickey Dudley to free agency and they've always been a haven for the persecuted. 3. San Francisco. Steve Mariucci has a need at tight end and, as a former Packers assistant, knows and respects Chmura. Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
