Much-needed perspective on Ryan Clady's decline

Andy Benoit - NFL Touchdown

Reports about a possible contract extension for Broncos left tackle Ryan Clady recently led to a wave of arguments that the four-year pro’s performance has declined as of late. Those arguments aren’t flawed, but their main points of evidence are.

In truth, Clady’s performance has declined. As a first-round rookie in 2008, he instantly proved to be football’s most athletic left tackle, if not football’s best left tackle. His 2009 season was equally impressive. In the spring of 2010, however, Clady tore his patellar tendon in a pickup basketball game. He didn’t miss any regular season action, but he clearly didn’t have the same explosiveness as before. Last season, Clady regained much of his original form, but he was also mistake prone.

Muhammad Wilkerson charged with careless driving after crash

Posted by Michael David Smith on June 25, 2012, 2:53 PM EDT

AP

Jets defensive tackle Muhammad Wilkerson escaped with only minor injuries — and two relatively minor traffic charges — after a car accident on Saturday.

Wilkerson, a 2011 first-round draft pick, was charged with careless driving and failure to maintain his lane after striking another car and overturning his own car on the Garden State Parkway early Saturday morning, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reports.

Police responded to the accident at 4:29 a.m. on Saturday. Wilkerson crawled out of his car and was taken to the hospital but was not badly hurt, and he was checked by the Jets’ medical staff today and the team expects him to be ready to go at the start of training camp. No one in the car he hit was badly hurt, either.

“First and foremost, other than the minor injuries, he’s OK and everyone else involved is OK but I do not have a lot of details,” Wilkerson’s agent Chad Wiestling said.

The Jets think Wilkerson is going to have a breakout season this year. He’s lucky that this accident didn’t derail those plans.

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Chad "Johnson" sends Goodell a warning

Posted by Josh Alper on June 25, 2012, 6:01 PM EDT

AP

In slow news periods like this, we find ourselves looking back to our old reliables a little more often than we might in busier times.

There haven’t been many players more reliable for our purposes than Chad Ochocinco. The Dolphins wide receiver might not have delivered during his year in New England, but he’s finding a way to remain on our pages when most of the league is on vacation. That does a better job of explaining why he’s on the HBO-bound Dolphins than anything he did on the football field in 2011.

Ocho, or Chad Johnson as he’s resumed calling himself on Twitter and other places that aren’t the Dolphins roster, decided to give NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell a little advance notice about some money flowing into the league offices this season.

Chad Johnson

• ✔

@ochocinco

@nflcommish Dad... I love u but I will be a problem this year.. all fine money this year can be collected from @MiamiDolphins#management

25 Jun 12

• Reply
• Retweet
• Favorite

We’re assuming that Ochocinco is planning on scoring a lot of touchdowns and following them up with elaborate celebrations as opposed to doing any of the other things that get you fined in the NFL. There have probably been safer assumptions, but that’ll be the one we work with until further notice.

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Pacman Jones trying to help rookies learn from his mistakes

Posted by Josh Alper on June 25, 2012, 1:51 PM EDT

Getty Images

If the NFL was looking for the best possible speaker to invite to this year’s Rookie Symposium in order to express to this year’s rookie class the wrong way to do things, they couldn’t have done much better than Bengals cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones.

Jones was the sixth overall pick of the 2005 Draft and made good on his lofty draft position in his early years with the Titans. He never fully blossomed into a star, though, because he couldn’t stay out of trouble off the field. That led to suspensions, long absences from the game and his departure from Tennessee, leaving him to continue his career as a sub corner without any of the special buzz he brought to the game when he first hit the NFL.

Brandon Marshall happy to finally have a good receivers coach

Posted by Michael David Smith on June 25, 2012, 10:25 AM EDT

Getty Images

Brandon Marshall arrived in Miami in 2010 having had three straight 100-catch seasons in Denver. But he thought he could get better with the Dolphins.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work that way. Marshall says that he didn’t get much coaching at all, as far as teaching him how to improve as a wide receiver, and for that matter he never had that in Denver, either.

“To be honest [when I arrived in Miami] I was like, ‘You know, I need some coaching. Right now I’m coming off my natural ability. I want a coach who’s played the position or played the game before, who knows and understands the receivers position. So they can take me and my world to a whole other level,’” Marshall told the Chicago Tribune. “I haven’t had a good coach as far as that receiving position since I’ve been in the NFL. . . . As far as technique and someone who understands the game, the last time I had a good receiving coach was DJ McCarthy in college.”

Lions sign Sean Jones to compete at safety

Posted by Michael David Smith on June 25, 2012, 2:17 PM EDT

AP

The Detroit Lions have picked up some veteran help in their secondary, in the form of one of the few players with the potential to start who’s still available in free agency.

Sean Jones, a safety who has started all 16 games each of the last two years for the Buccaneers, has signed with Detroit. The Lions will be Jones’ fourth NFL team; he was drafted by the Browns in 2004 and played five years in Cleveland and one in Philadelphia before signing with the Bucs.

Jones, who visited the Lions in early May but left Detroit without a contract, is expected to compete with incumbent starter Amari Spieveyand veteran Erik Coleman for one starting safety job. The other starting safety in Detroit is Louis Delmas.

Improving the secondary has been a top offseason priority for the Lions, who were shredded by Matt Flynn in a loss to the Packers in the final game of the regular season and by Drew Brees in their loss to the Saints in the postseason. Other additions to the secondary in Detroit have included signing free agent cornerbackJacob Lacey and drafting cornerbacks Dwight Bentley, Chris Greenwood andJonte Green.

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TTR's Players to Watch: WR Edition

by Tiger Hebert


As the 2012 season approaches optimism is in the air no matter what team you are pulling for, heck even the Dolphins said they should win the AFC this year!  So as we look forward to this season, I am going to share a short list of players that will be better in 2012.

This week we cover the Wide Receivers!

1. Eric Decker, Denver Broncos - This young man is very intriguing to me this year and I think he will be one of the biggest surprises of 2012.  Despite playing in the Tim Tebow offense last year, Decker still managed to land at 32nd in fantasy football rankings among wide receivers last season.  With Peyton Manning now under center in Denver the passing game with thrive again.  Most experts are predicting Demaryius Thomas to get the lion's share of production this year, but I think that will only benefit Decker further.  Thomas is clearly the number one, and Decker will face much more single coverage.  Manning has always found ways to take lesser known players and turn them into production machines, look at Anthony Gonzales, Austin Collie, Brandon Stokley, and Jacob Tamme to name a few.  I would not be surprised to see #87 almost double his numbers from 2011.  He could easily post over 80 receptions, 1,200 yards and at least 12 touchdowns this season.  


2. Titus Young, Detroit Lions - Not often in the NFL do offensive rookies have an immediate impact.  Yes we do see superstars burst onto the scene, but it is definitely not the norm.  Especially on an offense as talent as the Lions.  However, Titus Young was far more productive than many realize.  As a rookie Titus was the 4th highest scoring fantasy player on the Lions offense, and was actually 42nd among all receivers.  The 48 catches for 607 yards and 6 touchdowns was a pretty good start.  Yes Titus showed immaturity over the last 9 months, but all indications out of MoTown are that he has his head screwed on straight.  Reports out of the mini camps are that he has been uncoverable in practices as his offseason work and focus is really showing.  If he can maintain this new level of focus while leaving behind the childish antics, he will explode this season.  I could see over 70 receptions and 1,000 yards with double digit touchdowns for Young this season, as he surpasses Burelson as the team's number two receiver.


3. Mike Williams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers - In the 2010 draft Mike Williams stock plummeted, as the former Orangemen who quit on his team wasn't to be trusted.  Tampa pulled the trigger on the New York native and he quickly surpassed highly touted rookie teammate Arrelious Benn, to become the teams number one.  Williams did not disappoint with 65 grabs, 964 yards and 11 touchdowns.  He only caught 50% of his targets that year, but he made them count.  In 2012 the Bucs as a whole did not play up to expectations, and Williams was no exception.  He caught another 65 passes, but for only 771 yards and 3 touchdowns.  His catch rate was actually slightly better as it was up to 52%, but he really just struggled to get open.  Since his struggles were more about getting open in his second year, I think it is more about exposing Williams for what he really is, rather than being an indictment on his play in '11.  Williams was trying to carry an offense as a number one receiver, but he is really suited better as a number two.  The great news, and much to his delight, is that he no longer has to try to be that go to guy.  With the brilliant addition of Vincent Jackson, Freeman now has a legit number one, and Mike Williams will now gladly face single coverage.  Williams may not put up gaudy statistics, but he should easily improve upon last years numbers in at least two categories, yards and touchdowns.  Williams could still hover around 65-70 receptions, but he should be closer to 1,000 yards and 8 or more touchdowns.  This could land him in fantasy football's top 40 receivers in 2012.


4. Brandon Marshall, Chicago Bears - Brandon Marshall averaged 83.5 receptions and 1,114 yards and 4.5 touchdowns during his two years in Miami, but was widely considered a disappoint.  His lapses in concentration leading to several crucial drops lead to much criticism, but the truth is that despite those lapses and his personal struggles off the field, he still produced at a very high level, especially considering Miami's quarterback woes.  According to Pro Football Outsiders, Marshall was actually ranked 16th among receivers for his effectiveness.  Marshall is now reunited with the quarterback that helped him have two of his three straight 100 plus reception seasons on his way to becoming at one time, the highest paid receiver in the league.  Cutler is ecstatic to have his big target back and will easily find ways to feed the beast.  During their two best years together, Cutler targeted Marshall roughly 175 times per season.  During his two years in South Beach he was targeted an average of 144 times per year.  If we use that data we can assume that Brandon Marshall will produce at least 90-95 receptions this year with over 1,100 yards and 6 touchdowns.  Not bad for a guy that was traded way for what amounts to a pair of dirty socks (in reality it was two 3rd round picks, but I prefer the hyperbole for effect).


5. Antonio Brown, Pittsburgh Steelers - In his first season as a starter, Antonio Brown was special.  While Mike Wallace gets all the love, Brown nearly matched his production with 69 receptions for 1,108 yards and 2 touchdowns.  This sneaky good season put the second year pro in fantasy footballs top 25 receivers.  This year, I expect him to improve upon that.  Brown will not get as much attention as Wallace, because he is not used to take the top off the defenses as much.  This forces teams to keep a safety over top of #17 at all times, which will continue to create opportunities for Brown.  Additionally, and I hope I am wrong, but I steer clear from players with holdouts.  That means that unless Wallace signs his tender soon, then we don't know when he will show up to play.  More often than not, players end up hurting themselves by holding out, and wind up with some form of serious or nagging injuries that plague their season.  I hate to see it happen, but it is usually the case.  If the holdout continues, I would trust Brown over Wallace.  Especially with the new offense they are installing, as he is already behind the learning curve.  Regardless of Wallace's presence, I expect Brown to trend upward with 75 or more receptions, nearly 1,300 yards and close to 10 all purpose touchdowns.


6. Brandon Lloyd, New England Patriots - I expected this move to happen a long time ago, so it was no surprise when Brandon Lloyd asked to be released, that he followed Josh McDaniels to New England.  Lloyd has always had the talent, but earlier in his career he was immature and gave his coaches headaches with his attitude.  But that changed in 2010 when he had the best season of his career grabbing 77 balls for 1,448 yards and 11 scores as a Bronco.  The McDaniels era quickly came to a close and Orton and Lloyd both found themselves shipped out of town the following season.  Lloyd still showed he was explosive in his short time with the Rams, but they were so awful it was lost among the losing.  Now in New England and back in McDaniels' system, I expect Lloyd to flourish giving Tom Brady a deep threat that they have not had since Randy Moss left the team.  Lloyd may not compare to some of Welker's numbers, but 80 receptions for 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns is not unrealistic season for Lloyd in 2012.

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Monday morning one-liners

Posted by Josh Alper on June 25, 2012, 9:10 AM EDT

Getty Images

Arthur Moats is playing every linebacker spot for the Bills.

TE Anthony Fasano’s role in the Dolphins offense might be reduced this season.

Can the Patriots count on S Josh Barrettstaying healthy long enough to help the team?

Rookie LB Demario Davis has made a strong impression on the Jets.

Ravens training camp has moved on from Westminster, Maryland but hasn’t been forgotten.

NFL Network to launch morning talk show

Posted by Darin Gantt on June 25, 2012, 8:00 AM EDT

Reuters

The NFL Network’s getting into the morning show business, creating a football version of the Today show.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand reports that the league will announce Monday its plans for a four-hour weekday morning show, which will start July 30 and air 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.

The show will replace Total Access reruns on NFLN in the mornings.

Brandon Marshall: The key to Jay Cutler's ignition

Adam Levy - ChiCityBS

The Chicago Bears had arguably the worst corps of receivers in the NFL last season. Even after missing four games, Matt Forte still led the team, from the backfield, with 52 receptions. The top two receivers on the depth chart, Johnny Knox and Roy Williams, caught 37 balls a piece, good for 109th in the league. Knox finished with a team-high 727 receiving yards. More importantly, the Bears haven't had a single 1000-yard receiver since Marty Booker in 2002. In fact, this franchise has only produced 11 1000-yard receivers EVER. The Arizona Cardinals had three of them on THE SAME TEAM just four years ago. I can go on and on about this, but one thing is clear: the Bears have lacked a playmaker (outside of running back) for as long as most of us can remember. It's probably no coincidence that we've only won one Super Bowl in its 46-year existence (and that happened to be the best defensive team in the history of the NFL). Jerry Angelo, the worst man ever, didn't seem to understand this. Hence his firing after the season.

Elway next in line to own the Broncos?

Terry McCormick - National Football Post

John Elway is beloved in Denver as the quarterback who led the Broncos to two Super Bowl wins and five of their six appearances in franchise history.

Now, Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post says Elway, who currently runs the football operations as executive vice president, could end up succeeding Pat Bowlen as the team's owner.

The columnist's statement comes from a mailbag question from a reader asking if Elway is on the hot seat if the Broncos don't win big. Kiszla says that is not the case, and that John Fox would probably pay the price for any Broncos' shortcomings.

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Karlos Dansby believes Dolphins' defense can be great

Posted by Michael David Smith on June 25, 2012, 7:04 AM EDT

Getty Images

Karlos Dansby’s optimism is not going away.

A month ago Dansby, the Dolphins’ outside linebacker, said that he thinks the Dolphins are going to the Super Bowl. Now he’s saying that the Dolphins are ready for greatness on defense.

“We’ve got a chance to be great,” Dansby told the Sun Sentinel. “We have a chance to be great in this defense. We have enough skill set. We have enough talent. We can make this defense work for us.”

Dansby said the biggest concern he has is that his teammates need to keep working during the time off before training camp.

“You can’t take a long break,” Dansby said. “You’ve got to be able to stay conditioned. You have to be able to stay in shape right now. The way we’re moving right now is the way we’re going to be moving at camp.”

And Dansby thinks the Dolphins will be moving in the regular season like a great team.

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Bruce Irvin predicts he gets at least 10 sacks for the Redskins, uh, Seahawks

Posted by Mike Florio on June 24, 2012, 9:57 PM EDT

AP

Regardless of the number of sacks rookie defensive end Bruce Irvin has this year, it’s safe to say he’ll get none of them as a member of the Redskins.

We think.

On the latest edition of The Real Rob Report, a production of Seahawks Pro Bowl fullbackMichael Robinson, Irvin says he’ll have double-digit sacks in his rookie season, but he doesn’t want to pick a specific number in order to avoid jinxing himself.  (Or course, guaranteeing at least 10 would arguably constitute a jinx.)

The funniest moment comes when Irvin discusses the moment he learned he’d been drafted by Seattle.