Sunday At The Post

FROM MICHAEL LOMBARDI:

Sunday May 17^th, 2009

QUOTE/STORY OF THE WEEK...

The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew.  We must disentrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.  -- Abraham Lincoln, Dec. 1, 1862, Message to Congress

Abraham Lincoln's Road to the White House

Failed in business in 1831 Defeated for Legislature in 1832 Second failure in business 1833 Suffered nervous breakdown in 1836 Defeated for Speaker in 1838 Defeated for Elector in 1840 Defeated for Congress in 1843 Defeated for Congress in 1848 Defeated for Senate in 1855 Defeated for Vice President in 1856 Defeated for Senate in 1858 Elected President in 1860

 

THINGS WE LEARNED LAST WEEK IN THE NFL...

1.    The Eagles made an effort to acquire Anquan Boldin from the Cards. Now, it wasn’t a great offer, but they did try. Agent Drew Rosenhaus said his asking price for Boldin was under $10 million -- but barely. To trade Boldin, the Cardinals are going to need more than Sheldon Brown and a third-round pick. That trade is very lopsided in favor of the Eagles, and it’s no wonder they were turned down. If a player is asking for slightly less than $10 million per year, he should command more than what the Birds offered. Why would the Cards make that trade? 

 

2.    Jason Taylor re-signs with the Dolphins. This will be an interesting signing to evaluate this summer. Last year, Taylor didn’t play well before the injury, and it’s possible his “Dancing with the Stars” offseason training affected his season. Now, with a good off-season behind him, Taylor must prove to all in Miami that age is not a factor and that he can still rush. Someone once told me that linebackers hit a wall at age 34. If Taylor can play well as he turns 35, he might dampen that theory. 

3.    The salary cap has again increased by another $1 million, and our Andrew Brandt will have the full details tomorrow in his Monday post to explain how and why the increase happened.   

4.    The Colts have a new offensive line coach and a new offensive coordinator. As we’ve talked about for the past two weeks, more changes have come to the Colts’ coaching staff. In time, it will be interesting to hear what Peyton Manning has to say about them and how they might affect him and the offense. 

 

5.    HBO has chosen the Cincinnati Bengals for its “Hard Knocks” series this summer. This show can go either way for teams. It can build confidence in the fans, or it can turn them off completely by showing them that their team doesn’t have the leadership command in place. I understand it’s TV, but I felt that the year the Chiefs were featured on the show, it hurt them with their fan base. It showed an intimate portrait of the decision-making process and overall leadership of then head coach Herm “Let’s Build Something Together” Edwards. It will be interesting to see a behind-the-scenes look at the Bengals. Head coach Marvin Lewis must bring his “A” game to the show, as he is trying to impress his players and build confidence in the fans. 

6.    Michael Irvin asked a small crowd of about 70 people, including current and former Cowboys players, for donations to help Rich Behm, who is paralyzed from the waist down as a result of the collapse of the team’s indoor practice facility. As Frank Sinatra would say, now that’s class. It’s a wonderful gesture by Irvin to help the Behm family. We at the Post wish Rich the best. We believe and pray that he, as his wife Michelle said, will one day walk again. 

THINGS I HEARD AROUND THE NFL LAST WEEK...

1.    When the draft ends, the free-agent market heats up, and there are often some gems left over who can make teams. Here’s a list of the top-paid college free agents from this year. As you can see, the Carolina Panthers spent a great deal of money ($125,000 here alone, which is high in the CFA market) in this area to offset the fact they didn’t have a first-round pick. 

Team	Player	Position	Signing Bonus
Carolina Panthers	Marlon Favorite	DT	$25,000
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Rob Bruggeman	C	$22,000
Carolina Panthers	Larry Beavers	WR	$20,000
Carolina Panthers	Patrick Brown	T	$20,000
Carolina Panthers	Gerald Cadogan	T	$20,000
Carolina Panthers	Hunter Cantwell	QB	$20,000
Carolina Panthers	C.J. Davis	G	$20,000
Minnesota Vikings	Colt Anderson	DB	$20,000
New York Giants	Maurice Davis	DE	$20,000
St. Louis Rams	Roger Allen	G	$20,000
Tennessee Titans	Mitch King	DT	$20,000

           

Now, for most of these players, this size of signing bonus means there was more than one team interested in trying to sign them. Competition creates a better deal in any market, in this case 24 players getting signing bonuses of more than$15,000. 

2.    The NFL phone lines were quiet last week, but here are a few names of players (fourth round or lower) who I hear might make an immediate impact for their teams:

           

Player	Position	Team
Louis Murphy	WR	Oakland Raiders
D.J. Moore	DC	Chicago Bears
Terrance Taylor	NT	Indianapolis Colts
Kevin Huber	P	Cincinnati Bengals

Time and preseason tape will determine if these players are for real. 

           

3.

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