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Regarding Henry Bills back run ragged by McGahee selectionPosted: Monday April 28, 2003 10:52 AM
FOXBORO, Mass. -- Travis Henry, you must be royally ticked off. I don't blame you one bit. And I don't buy what I read in my Monday morning paper, that after having a chance to talk with the Bills you're fine with their decision to make one of the most stunning selections in modern NFL Draft history by taking Miami running back Willis McGahee 23rd overall. You weren't born yesterday. You should know, however, despite what you hear from McGahee and his folks, that he won't play this year. The Bills would never put an 80-percent McGahee on the field, and you can mark my words: He won't play this year. For now, the job's all yours, along with some good insurance in new backup Olandis Gary. But you also know that if McGahee can walk and chew gum at the same time by next offseason, you'll be dangled as trade bait as quickly as you can say, "Ricky Williams." What must mystify you about this, as it would me, is this: Two weeks ago, the Bills handed you a contract extension that locked you into a season beyond the expiration of your original contract. They wrote you a bonus check for $300,000, and gave you a deal that would pay $1.25 million in salary in 2005. That's big for you; late second-round picks, of which you were one a couple of years ago, aren't born with silver NFL contractual spoons in their mouths. It also must mystify you that, after you rushed for 1,438 yards last year, went to the Pro Bowl, came back looking forward to your season and then were told that head coach Gregg Williams wants you to do even more in 2003, the Bills selected your heir so quickly. And it must just totally confuse you that this team already has Gary, a former 1,000-yard back with Denver, in reserve, but still goes after McGahee. You understand that this is a team game, and you can't be selfish about this. But you have to think to yourself: This is the richest position on the team! What's going on here? Didn't only five teams in the whole league allow more points than we did last year? Didn't our leading sacker have only 6.5 sacks in 2001 and 8.5 last year? Wasn't this the year of great defensive linemen? Couldn't we have dipped into that market, or into the defensive secondary market, to make our rush better? Are we so good that we can use our first-round pick on a guy who won't play until 2004, and at a position where he's not needed? If I were you, I'd be logging on to the Web this morning, looking up depth charts, and checking out where I'd be playing in 2004. Because it won't be in Buffalo. Might be nice in Tampa, playing for Jon Gruden. Or Dallas, with Bill Parcells. Maybe the Bucs or Cowboys could use a 1,500-yard back, which is what you know and I know you'll be this year. You'll hear a bunch of stuff in the next few months about trades. If you're worried about the salary-cap implications preventing a deal, don't be. I won't bore you with the details, but if the Bills trade you next April, it'd be a cap hit of only $445,000. Chicken feed. You should know by now that you have really good people running your team. GM Tom Donahoe is one of the best in the game, and I think Williams is the right man to take the Bills back to the playoffs. They say they are bullish on your future with the Bills. But the only thing I can figure here, even after talking with Donahoe on Sunday, is that you're going to bring them one great pick or a couple of very good ones in what looks to be quite a strong 2004 draft. It's a business, a tough business. Maybe they figure since you were the 58th pick in 2001, and if they can get 3,600 yards in three years out of you, and turn that into, say, the seventh player in 2004, they're making a great investment. Those are lots of maybes, but that's the only way this thing makes any sense to me at all. You aren't faultless. You fumbled 11 times last year. My NFL statbook tells me the opposition recovered eight of the 11. It's an area in which you have to improve. No question. And I'm not justifying the drops, but maybe you should have your agent let the Bills know that the NFL's leading rusher, Ricky Williams, had seven, and Tiki Barber, No. 2 in the NFC in rushing, had nine. Those aren't good, either, but you weren't alone. I spent some time with McGahee in New York last week. Good guy. You'll like him. But it'll be weird between you. It has to be. You're a rising-star Pro Bowler. He's there to steal your job. I'm sure you'll say all the right things and welcome McGahee to the team, but you're human. It's not his fault he's in the great North. You'll go home at night and be ticked at the Bills for taking him. Not much else to say. You have to go out and perform now. You will. And a year from now, your life will probably be totally different. Come to think of it, it already is.
Quote of the Week I "We feel good about our cornerback situation."--New Orleans coach Jim Haslett I have learned exclusively that Haslett is the only American male -- other than perhaps Dale Carter -- who feels this way. Quote of the Week II
"He could be the best Demon Deacon pass-rusher since Michael McCrary!"
Question for You've Got Mel: Has there been a Demon Deacon pass-rusher since Michael McCrary? Quote of the Week III In the best tradition of Oil Can Boyd, who once said after a foggy game in Cleveland, "That's what happens when you build a stadium on the ocean," here is one of my favorite geographical/meteorological quotes in recent history:
"Chicago has a windy shore that you have to play in."
One other Nnamdi Asomugha factoid: Nnamdi Asomugha and Iheanyi Uwaezuoke are cousins. I wonder if Nnamdi Asomugha and Iheanyi Uwaezuoke, a former Cal receiver, ever lined up across from each other on the football field, at any time in their lives. Could you imagine Bill Maas trying to analyze that on FOX? He'd be looking at a replay and saying: "OK, watch here. As the pass goes up, Nnamdi Asomugha leaps high, but Iheanyi Uwaezuoke gets leverage and makes the play, and then look at Asomugha lunge for Uwaezuoke! Iheanyi's gone!"
... With Detroit Lions GM/President Matt Millen. MMQB: Charles Rogers -- your guy all along? Millen: He's been our guy for a while. This is a great day for us, really a great day, because he just made us so much faster. We needed that. Same thing with Boss Bailey. We've improved our team speed a lot. MMQB: How in the world is Boss Bailey still on the board with the 34th pick in the draft? I mean, the guy runs a 4.38 and weighs 235, 240. Millen: Why'd he drop? I guess, No. 1, [for] medical reasons. [He's had knee injuries, but most teams cleared him medically.] No. 2, I guess people wonder, Where do you put him? Weak side? Strong side? I expected him to go mid-first, and it was pretty much a no-brainer when he was sitting there. I know a lot of people say this, but I couldn't believe it when he was sitting there for us. MMQB: The story of the day before the draft was that half the teams in the league, including New England, were reportedly attempting to trade up to get the second pick. What's true and what's false about all the reported offers before the draft, especially those regarding New England? Millen: [The Patriots rumor is] totally false. I mean, we talked with New England, just like we talked to a lot of teams. But there never was an offer from New England. That stuff was totally false. [VP of Communications] Bill Keenist called me Friday night to tell me everyone was writing this, and I was shocked. It never happened. I said, "That's news to me."
Foxboro -- or Foxborough -- whichever you'd like to call it -- Bay Staters like to spell their "boros" as "boroughs," though for some reason it doesn't translate that way on maps and datelines. Anyway, my point: You can't find anything there. Nice little New England hamlet, right? So I'm staying at the Foxboro Residence Inn by Marriott in a little office-park type of complex near I-95. And I go to the front desk Saturday morning and ask, "Which way to the stadium?" And the woman behind the desk looks at me quizzically and starts giving a rambling explanation and then says, "I'd better write it down." Armed with eight lines' worth of writing on a piece of legal paper, I set off with the directions. Took me 13 minutes. Traffic circles. State highways. A narrow road or two. Then Route 1. Then the stadium. How can it take 13 minutes to drive from place to place in Foxboro? Or Foxborough?
Lots of e-mail fodder this week, on subjects ranging from Bill Self (I can't believe everyone thinks I'm a dope on this issue) to French Roast, even to Giovanni Carmazzi. Here goes. YOU'RE WRONG RE: BILL SELF. From Derek in St. Louis: "You questioned the value of a contract in the Bill Self case, when he moved from a valid contract at Illinois to Kansas. First, the NFL, which you cover feverishly, has this very system in place right now. 'Contracts' aren't contracts if they are not guaranteed contracts. Like the NFL, college athletics allow coaches to move around like weapons of mass destruction. The catch here is that it's not Self who allowed himself to move. It is the $500,000 agreement that Illinois provided, which allowed coach Self to leave if another school offered him a better deal. Please educate yourself the next time you want to place a label on somebody as you did with Coach Self. He really is a class act and is only operating within a system that is already in place." Understood. Most of the coaches have buyout clauses in their deals. But what about the players left behind? What about the players who've signed with Illinois with a promise from Self (and I don't mean to pick on him solely) that he'd be there, and then 10 minutes later he's gone? The system is screwed up. Why sign guys to contracts that are relatively valueless? I mean, isn't the point of signing a contract (and I know this is naïve in today's society, but it's the way I feel) that you're saying to an employer: "I'll be here for the length of time for which I'm signing?" Re: the NFL, you're right. But that's why signing bonuses were invented. It's convenient to forget that when the Giants whack Jason Sehorn and prevent him from making millions in salary that the team just paid him a $6 million advance in the form of a signing bonus two years ago, then another few million last year. SIX FEET UNDER IS VERY BIG AMONG THE READERS, WHICH IS PERPLEXING. From Ted Bell of Minneapolis: "Thanks for the Six Feet Under capsule. Much as you hate her character, the show got better with Brenda the weirdo back. I'm intrigued with the Rico/Vanessa storyline; it has Andrea Yates written all over it." Sorry. I don't watch a show about the lives of undertakers to see infanticide. THE MORTON RULING WAS RIGHT. From Don in Manila, Philippines: "I was as surprised as you were that arbitrator Richard Bloch awarded Chad Morton to the Redskins, but how can you possibly fault the NFLPA and the league? First, the Jets took the risk of not exactly matching the contract. Then, when Bloch disclosed up front to both parties he had Skins tickets, the Jets took the additional risk of agreeing to Bloch as the arbitrator. No room for sour grapes now. Bloch has spent, what, 15 years as an arbitrator? Do you honestly believe he would risk his professional credibility like this?" You are suing John Doe after a car accident. You walk into the courtroom of the most respected judge in your area. The judge begins proceedings by saying, "I'm a business partner in a bar and grill with John Doe, but I believe I can be fair and impartial in this case. I would like to hear this case. Does that meet with your approval?" Whether you say yes or no, and whatever the verdict is, the point is this: The bar association should never let something like this happen. The appearance of impropriety is just too great, whether it's actually improper or not. PLAYING THE ORGAN. From Jeff Detra of Moline, Ill.: "I just wanted to thank you for your positive message regarding the need for organ donation. My father was No. 1 on the priority list in need of a liver transplant in June of 1989 and we were informed that he had only 48-72 hours to get the necessary liver. Well, we were lucky, we got the liver and dad had his transplant. Dad died in September 2001, but the years after the transplant allowed him to see all five of his children graduate from college, all four of his grandkids born, and he also renewed his wedding vows with his wife after 25 years. He also got to send a letter to his football hero (and mine), Walter Payton, when Payton was afflicted with a deadly liver disease as well. Thanks again and remember, don't take your organs to heaven with you. Heaven knows we need them here on earth." Thanks. YOU'LL BE WRONG ON BYRON LEFTWICH. From Steve Diamond of Orlando, Fla.: "I am a Marshall grad and obviously biased. However, if you are truly worried about Byron Leftwich's leg in the sense that you would choose Carson Palmer over Byron because of that, then why would you choose Palmer at all, based on his largely mediocre college career? If Byron's leg had not been broken, then you would have chosen Byron over Palmer? Why would [noted orthopedist] James Andrews put his reputation on the line by informing all 32 teams that Byron's leg is fully healed?" Steve, I picked Palmer over Leftwich after watching three college gametapes of each player. I thought Palmer moved better in the pocket (Leftwich admits he is a plodding player), anticipated players coming out of their breaks better, threw a ball with better touch, and was a better pro prospect. A big fear of mine for Leftwich is that his playing weight will be in the 240s, and, having broken his left leg twice in the last two years in two different locations, he won't be able to get out of the way of the big hits. Yes, everyone says his leg's OK. It probably is. And as I've said on many occasions, picking a quarterback is an inexact science. You probably have a 50 percent chance of being right. I'm just going with what looks most logical to me right now. Which brings me to ... YOU THOUGHT WE'D FORGOTTEN ABOUT GIO CARMAZZI, DIDN'T YOU? From Peter Lockard of Wayne, Pa.: "Dear Giovanni Carmazzi ... You probably didn't expect anyone to look back at your post-draft predictions of the past. Not only were you way off with Peter Warrick as Rookie of the Year, but you questioned the Bears' pick of Brian Urlacher. I do give you credit, however, for making bold predictions the way you do." None of us can escape our past.
1. I think I never thought Eugene Wilson, Charles Tillman, Tyler Brayton, Nick Barnett, Rashean Mathis, Ken Hamlin, Pisa Tinoiusamoa, Bethel Johnson, Al Johnson, Cie Grant, Courtney Van Buren, Antwan Peek, Seth Wand and two Giants gems named Osi Umenyiora and Vishante Shiancoe would be picked ahead of Chris Simms in this draft. I really feel for the kid. Late Saturday night, I called one of his representatives, Steve Rosner, looking to speak to Simms, but he was laying low after talking to the Tampa media for a couple of minutes. I bet an already mature kid grew up five more years Saturday. "Chris and I have a lot to prove," said Tampa Bay head coach Jon Gruden. Nice of him to say, in reference to his ability to coach quarterbacks, but the proving here will all be up to the kid now. 2. I think these are my quick-hit draft thoughts: a. The Bengals had their best draft since I began covering football. I love the Dennis Weathersby pick to start the second day. Tough kid, 27th overall on one board I know of before he was shot last week (he'll be fine by training camp). b. Great pick of Jordan Gross, Carolina. c. Time to get streamlined in the ol' war room, Vikes. d. Those mesh caps have to go. e. All along, I thought Oakland would pick Simms. Watching the crawl Saturday night on ESPN, I was sure that late in the second round the Raiders would take the value pick right there. "TEYO JOHNSON" came up. I kept saying things like: "Sixty picks and no Simms! Unbelievable!" to the Patriots press corps (I think Kevin Mannix was pretty sick of me after a while). f. Cleveland had two picks and 463 needs in the first 80 picks of the draft. The Browns got Jeff Faine and Chaun Thompson. Bet that really thrilled the Dog Pounders, as well as Don from Mount Morris, the biggest Browns fan in the history of western New York. g. I still can't believe Bill Parcells and Mike Zimmer took a great cover corner and mediocre run-support corner in Terence Newman. h. How happy is Marty Schottenheimer? He has his corner situation solidified for the next five years with Quentin Jammer and now Sammy Davis. i. "Who can make the sun rise ... Sprinkle it with dew ... " I can't help breaking into song when Sammy's name comes up. 3. I think when I'm asked about the Jets' draft, I'm going to have some very serious questions. For Kentucky tackle Dewayne Robertson, New York traded, in effect, Laveranues Coles, a first-round pick and a fourth-round pick. And, according to a story in Sunday's Newark Star-Ledger, the Jets were prepared to deal their second-rounder to Detroit as well, if that's what it took to get Robertson. Turns out they didn't have to. But the fact that they were willing to trade four of their top five picks tells me they thought Robertson must have been one of the best defensive players to enter the NFL in years. My question: Is he? Time will tell, and I'm not a big watcher of college football at all. But this is a guy whose name isn't Dewayne Robertson anymore; it's The Next Warren Sapp. Sapp had 10.5 sacks in his final season at the best college program in the country at the time, Miami, in 1994. Robertson had 10.5 sacks in his 32-game career at a mediocre Division I school, Kentucky. I hope this kid can take pressure, because if he gets blocked by one linemen with any consistency as a pro, New York fans will boo the kid worse than they're booing Armando Benitez right now. And if you wonder how bad they're giving it to Benitez, imagine you're standing on the busiest runway at O'Hare this afternoon about 5 o'clock, with no earplugs. That's what Robertson can look forward to if he's not, at the very least, Cortez Kennedy. 4. I think the way I hear it, Buffalo probably would have gone with Ty Warren if he was left at No. 23, rather than McGahee. 5. I think these are my personal thoughts of the week: a. Alfonso Soriano is unstoppable. He is the greatest current Yankee. b. I traded Ichiro over the weekend. Strange decision. But I'm in last place in our rotisserie league, and I've never gotten over missing out on the slumping Wade Miller, and so I dealt Scott Williamson and Ichiro to the first-place team for Miller and Jacque Jones. Prediction of the Week: My spot in the standings will not change. c. Coffeenerdness: The Assist of the Week goes to Patriots assistant PR man Anthony Moretti, who, knowing there is a dearth of Starburcks in the Foxboro area, stopped by the Norwood, Mass., store near his home on the way to work Saturday morning and had a grande hazelnut latte waiting for me when I arrived at Gillette Stadium. Of course, Moretti's the best PR man in history. d. While the football world hunkered down for the draft, SARS swept the globe, by the way. This is scary. e. Montclair (N.J.) High Softball Note of the Week: Wow. What a week. Junior lefty Mary Beth King won a pitching duel with Paramus power pitcher Diana Schraer 1-0 on Tuesday to run the MHS record to 5-0, and earn Montclair its highest ranking in the state (13th in the Star-Ledger's poll) since, well, since I have no idea when. Then MHS went 2-4 the rest of the very busy week. Your Favorite Pitcher lost to Belleville 2-0 and Bloomfield 2-0. We're in need of some magic dust for the sticks. Some tonic came Sunday in the form of a 15-0 Essex County tournament win over Newark Academy, but here comes Belleville again Monday, this time at home. Softball's a tough, tough game, especially for the parents. 6. I think I agree that Baltimore had the best overall draft, especially because Terrell Suggs will prove people wrong about his speed and because I love the pick of Kyle Boller. But I also say this: Ask the Ravens how they feel about their moves next year, when their first pick in a very good draft is around No. 48, and when the Patriots, a team with which they're competing for a playoff spot, makes three picks before Baltimore has its first. 7. I think this was my 20th NFL draft as a beat man, and, even though there were pre-draft rumblings that Willis McGahee could go anywhere, never have I been more surprised by a pick than I was when the Bills selected him. 8. I think, here in New England, it won't be long before Dan Klecko is as beloved as Tedy Bruschi. Though he's small for a nose man, the Patriots got a good pick with the 117th overall selection. I look for New England to eventually have Richard Seymour and this year's top pick, Ty Warren, as its right and left ends, respectively, in a new 3-4 scheme by next season at the latest. Warren may have to play the nose this year because the Pats might not have anyone better. 9. I think the one thing I want you to remember, as you go about your business today and get insanely excited or angry about how your team did over the weekend, is the 1998 draft. Here, along with where they were picked, are some of the selections everyone was crowing about five years ago: Overall pick, Player, Team
2, Ryan Leaf, San Diego
10. I think we also should not forget some other picks in the first two rounds that year: Jason Peter, John Avery, Marcus Nash, Pat Johnson, Jeremy Staat, Jacquez Green, Tony Simmons, Kordell Taylor and Bob Hallen. Perspective, people, perspective.
Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL beat for the
magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com. Monday Morning Quarterback
appears in this space every week. Click here to send him a comment.
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