The Cleveland Browns have the 4th and 22nd picks in the draft, and they have a need for quarterback.  (I know, they have Colt McCoy, but Colt McCoy is not the answer.  He’s probably never really gotten over the “dead arm” that he incurred during that ill-fated national title game.)  So, it’s time for the Browns to move on.  RG3 is highly rated and he’s ready to be a QB in this league.  If the Browns have him rated that high, they could just give up this year’s draft and not have any impact in the future that is readily apparent.

So, does that make them the front runners to pick up the second pick from the Rams?  Oh, yes it does!  It’s the most obvious thing, you know, ever.

If the Browns don’t take a strong, young quarterback, they are dooming themselves to even more years of strife and turmoil.  Yeah, they made the playoffs once, but that is not really an indicator of broad and overall success.  They just made it once.  With a franchise guy like RG3, they can make the playoffs a gazillion times over and we all know that to be true.

So, should they give up one draft to have success for the next 10 years?  Yes.  Is it going to hurt?  Yes.  Are people going to call them crazy?  Yes.

That’s ok.  They may not have ALL the pieces they need right off the top, but they will have enough.  They will have enough to get going.  They could even go 8-8 if RG3 is as good as he has been advertised.  That’s just the law of the land.  Give a little–get a decade of success.

If the Colts can do it, the Browns can do it.  I don’t think people in Indy complained–neither will Clevelanders.

The New Orleans Saints have a lot of work to do before the March 5th franchise tag deadline.

With big time free agents such as Drew Brees, Carl Nicks, and Marques Colston on the market, this puts a lot of pressure on General Manager Mickey Loomis. If the Saints don’t get a deal done with Brees by March 5th, they are forced to use the franchise tag on him. But it comes at a tremendous loss. if the Saints use the franchise tag on Brees they could possibly lose out on one of the best offensive lineman and one of the most underrated wide receivers in the league today. I can assure you of this. Drew Brees will be back with the Saints regardless. But, the Saints can’t use the tag on him. They need it for Nicks or possibly Colston.

Brees, Nicks and Colston are not the only big time stories happening this offseason. The NFL won’t put the official salary cap until the season starts on March 13th. But the Saints have about $78 million dollars currently on their roster. Which means the Saints are going to have about $45 million dollars left to use. Which is horrible seeing as how Brees and possibly Nicks and Colston are going to use up a lot of it. Let’s also remember that Brees, Nicks and Colston are not the only free agents this year. The others that are on the free agent market are Super Bowl XLIV hero Tracy Porter, WR Robert Meachem, DE Turk McBride, Jeff Charleston and Alex Brown, DT Aubrayo Franklin and Shaun Rogers, special teamer Courtney Roby and CB Fabian Washington. While QB Chase Daniel, LB Jonathan Casillas and Jo-Lonn Dunbar, LS Justin Drescher are restricted free agents.

The 2011 New Orleans Saints had a better roster than the 2009 Saints that won the Super Bowl. The 2012 Saints are going to look a lot different than the Saints that we’ve seen in the past. We must remember that this is a business and the Saints are going to do what they believe will get them back to the Super Bowl. Especially seeing as how Super Bowl XLVII will be hosted by the New Orleans Saints. Regardless of what unfolds in the upcoming months with the Saints, they will have a really great opportunity to be the first team to play the Super Bowl on their own turf.

Over the next several weeks I will be explaining how this is THE OFFSEASON that will either make or break the Cleveland Browns for the next seven to ten years.

Never has their been such a talented pool of free agents. On top of that after one of the best seasons ever for quarter backs in the NFL the draft holds what seems to be two sure fire can’t miss QB’s. So as I said, this is it … THE OFFSEASON.

You will look back at this offseason in a few years and be able to say this is what built the Browns into who they are. Contenders, not the bottom feeders, that the Cleveland Browns have been all to often.

Believe it or not this Browns team is not that bad. The QB play is getting better. It seems that with the addition of Greg Little the receivers could start to make a difference. The running game … we will get to that later.

The D! Oh the D!! Better and better and one reason is D’Qwell Jackson who was resigned by the Browns today! If you are a true blue fan of the Browns you better be jumping and screaming for this day. If you are a fan of another team you ARE a little bit down. You missed a chance to grab an outstanding player with several years left.

Fans say that Jackson has only had one good year. To that I say SO WHAT! Listen, the Browns drafted Jackson in 2006 with the 34th overall pick. Now let’s leave out the 2009 and 2010 season as he only played six games due to injuries. In 2006 he had 93 total tackles (solo’s and assist), 2007 101 total, and 2008 154 total! In fact lets add 2009 where Jackson had 59 total in only six games … HE WOULD HAVE BROKE 160!

Then he comes back after two tough years of injuries where lets face it the Browns could have cut him. Instead they kept him and got rewarded with 158 total tackles. He got rewarded for all his hard work with a 5 year 40+ million dollar contract that is totally worth it on both sides. So let’s look at the Defense now. Joe Haden, TJ BOSS Ward, D Jackson, Jabaal Sheard, Phil Taylor, Rubin, Chris Gocong, Usama Young, Mike Adams, Sheldon Brown this team on D is getting loaded!

What’s it all mean? It means if you’re in the AFC North you better start retooling now. Look at the teams. The Steelers have more cap budget issues then the U.S. Government and may lose a big time wide receiver, but that doesn’t matter cause the owners want to run the ball?

Baltimore has age playing against it, plus that whole Ray Rice is a free agent thing. Let’s be honest people. Ray Rice was the running back with the biggest IMPACT when his team would let him run the ball. How many games did they not let him do just that? Relying on Joe Flacco’s arm. I know Rice remembers this and maybe he decides to go else where because of that.

Then we have the Bengals. Talk about a team on the upswing. A.J. Green and Andy Dalton last year. Two first round picks this year. Wow, this team is getting nasty! Could we have a shift in power coming the way of Ohio in the AFC North?

Guess we will need to hang tight and see what THIS OFFSEASON brings!

The closer we get to the draft, the more and more talk there is about the number two pick and what it is going to cost to get the Rams to give it up.  Initially, I had thought that it would be not so expensive because of what it now costs to sign first rounders.  However, I was thinking backwards.  Basically, you have to spend more to get the pic because it’s going to cost you less in salary.  So, since the pick is more enticing, you can be assured that the team that holds it will do more to hold onto it and/or squeeze everything they can out of the team that actually wants it.

So, instead of asking for, say, a first and third rounder, then you might have to spend a first and a first and maybe a fourth or fifth.  Think about it, if you don’t have to spend $30 million guaranteed on the player then the picks you give up are going to have to be more valuable.  That’s just the way it is.

So, when people start coming at the Rams really strong, they are going to have to plan to basically give up everything they have to make the trade happen.  Remember that I already made fun of the Falcons for giving up a whole draft to get Julio Jones, now what is it going to take to get to number two with THAT precedent hanging over the proceedings?

Yeah, that’s what I thought.  So, what do the Rams do?

They should ask for a first, a first next year, and then a fourth or fifth.  Maybe even a third.  That’s the only thing they can do.  Then, they can build for the future and get Sam Bradford more weapons.

That’s the only way this works for them.

An interesting story is happening in the state of Virginia, and it has nothing to do with Woman’s rights.  University of Virginia Safety Joe Williams is taking a stand against the school he is attending.  But for Williams, this stand is for the average worker at the University.

Williams is standing up, or rather, pushing himself away from the dining room table in an effort to bring light to the dispute between the UVA administration and the school’s service workers.  Williams has been on a hunger strike for the past week, showing his support and bringing attention to the dispute.

Williams is a junior walk-on who has played in only two games during his career.  He started the hunger strike “to protest the economic and social injustices perpetrated by the UVa administration.”

Williams, a political and social thought major, issued a statement on his thoughts.

“Our University seeks to distinguish itself as a caring community and prides itself on traditions of honor and student self-governance. However, in our “caring community,” hundreds of contract employees may make as little as $7.25 an hour while six out of the top ten highest paid state employees in Virginia hold administrative positions at the University. Many employees, mostly women and African Americans, do not receive enough pay for their basic necessities to exist in Charlottesville, where the cost of living is nearly 10% higher than the national average. This extreme inequality has disturbed and disillusioned students for decades, many of whom have tried to grapple with issues of race, class, and poverty in and out of the classroom.”

Normally a football player will concentrate on his spot for his football team.  Yes Williams is dealing with that.   But he also is not your usual football player.  He graduated from Dominion High in Sterling, VA when he was 16.  He was one of four children supported by a single mother and he lived in 30 different places, including many homeless shelters, which gave him a profound appreciation for socioeconomic challenges.

He walked on at Virginia at age 17 and has been refining his knowledge of politics ever since.  Williams is not the only student at Virginia going through this hunger strike.  18 others are involved and working with the University to help stymie this dilemma.

Inadequate wages is a problem throughout our country and Williams with others are doing their best to speak about it.  These students are the country’s future and they are taking a stand today to make things better in the years to come for the University workers.

They deserve our support.

It’s not very often we chat about an Arena Football game.  Sure this is a football site and the sport as a whole is worthy of coverage.  However the Arena Football league to most of us seems below the bar.

That’s even though there are several former players and named entertainers that own teams and are involved in the sport.  For example, former NFL quarterbacks Bernie Kosar and John Elway used to own teams.  Jon Bon Jovi is an owner.

Now the stories are coming out of the Indoor Football League where the Allen Wranglers have the biggest name in the league, Terrell Owens.  And immediately Owens is paying off.

His persona, along with his talent is bringing out the media to report on his progress.  Owens is there for only one reason, and everyone knows it.  Coming off an ACL injury that led him to miss the entire 2011 NFL season, Owens is playing with the IFL only to show he is healthy and ready to come back.

5700 people poured into the Allen, Texas Events Center to see Owens performance in his first game against the Wichita Wild.  By now everyone knows Owens caught three passes, scored 3 touchdowns on those passes in his debut and entertained the crowd with his touchdown dances in the end zone.

Allen, Texas is a suburb roughly a half-hour north of Dallas. Co-Owner Jon Frankel, when announcing the team had signed Owens, said the receiver will play in all the home games, and it hasn’t been decided yet about road games. Expect the league to put pressure on the Wranglers to bring Owens on the road to help with ticket sales.

The IFL is a 16-team league consisting of teams from various states, including franchises in Green Bay, Sioux Falls, Chicago, New Mexico, Wyoming and Nebraska.

This is a two-prong self serving deal for Owens, who never does anything that doesn’t promote his “brand”.   Not only can he be the “big fish in a small pond,” but Owens can also show his talents are where they should be in order to get back to the NFL.

But do NFL owners still want a 38 year old wide receiver coming off an ACL injury with a history or yelling at his quarterbacks on the sideline and pouting at inopportune times?  Still, with those items in his background, Owens could outperform 90% of the receivers in the league right now.  It all depends on the team and what quarterback they have.

You would not want Owens with a Sam Bradford or Cam Newton.  Owens act could intimidate them as young signal callers.  However someone like Peyton Manning or even Tom Brady could be a good fit.  They have the ego and history to stand up to Owens.

Owens last played with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2010, catching 72 passes for 983 yards and nine touchdowns.  Owens is trying to get back into the league to improve on those stats.

Going into Sunday night, a little known, little heard of documentary based upon a high school football team in Memphis was up for the Oscar on Best Documentary.  Oscar or no, this documentary shows that team has already won.

The documentary is named “Undefeated” and documents the extraordinary concern and passion of a white football coach for his team of African-American players, whose chaotic personal lives threaten to undermine their talents.  It reflects an entire season and how they deal with everything that comes between them and the game.

“Undefeated” is a movie that keeps you enthralled in the pace and concern for these kids who just want someone to care for them longer than 15 minutes.  These players come from the inner-city and most are without fathers or mothers, sometimes both.  They just want consistency and discipline in their lives and football shows it to them.

The movie follows this Memphis Manassas High School football team, which, in its 110-year history, has never won a playoff game. After six seasons, leading up to 2009, Coach Bill Courtney has finally produced a contender through sheer guts and fortitude. Courtney is white and his players are all African-American. After a while, this fact no longer matters.

What does matter is the extraordinary empathy Courtney experiences with the kids, who treat him with respect even when he is lambasting them.  What is also amazing is Courtney spent 6 years as the coach of this team, all on a volunteer basis.  The school could not afford to pay a salary and he accepted that just to help these kids.

The co-directors of this documentary, Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin, focus on Courtney.  During the day he runs a lumber company and has four kids of his own.  During the movie Courtney fears he is neglecting them and how he deals with those emotions.

They also center on three players.  They are Chavis Daniels, a gifted athlete with severe anger-management issues; Montrail “Money” Brown, an offensive lineman and top student; and O.C. Brown, an imposing right tackle who needs tutoring to make his grades.

As it turned out, “Undefeated” won the Oscar for Best Documentary.  But that’s not all.  The coaches and players already proved they are winners.

Slowly, surely and silently, the Washington Redskins are moving into position to trade into the second position of April’s 2012 NFL Draft.

All indications lately surrounded the Cleveland Browns and their apparent interest in Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III.  It is widely agreed any team that wants Griffin would have to make a trade with St. Louis, who owns the second pick, in order to get him.  Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck is the anticipated number one pick in the draft by the Indianapolis Colts.

After an outstanding showing at the Combine in Indianapolis over the weekend, Griffin has all but erased all doubts his talents will fit into the NFL nicely.  Griffin highlighted his efforts by a forty-yard dash time of 4.38.

Griffin can now sit back and watch his suitors offer up anything they can to the Rams.  Cleveland has three picks in the first 37, but their name has backed off in the past few days.  The new suitor now appears to be the Washington Redskins.

After a meeting between Griffin and Redskins coach Mike Shanahan at the combine, rumors began.  Griffin confirmed the conversation took place and he was “very” impressed with Shanahan.

By now everyone realizes the Rams have no use for Griffin.  They already have their franchise quarterback in Sam Bradford and new coach Jeff Fisher seems happy in sticking with the former Oklahoma signal caller.  So the Rams are entertaining offers for that second pick.

However, there is a chance the Rams could change their mind and trade Bradford.  The upside to Sam Bradford is that he is a true NFL-type pocket passer. He fits in the mold of Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees, and that is exactly the type of talent most coaches want behind center.

The downside to Bradford is his giant contract. He came out of college the year before the new labor agreement and coinciding rookie pay scale went into effect. That means he will be making about double what last year’s first pick, Cam Newton, and this year’s likely first pick, Andrew Luck, will be making. That also means he is harder to trade and will probably bring in less than what Griffin will at number two.

There are two months to go before the NFL.  That isn’t stopping teams from talking and trying to move up.  Reports over the weekend in Indianapolis said the Redskins are “prepared” to make the Rams a massive offer, which includes their top three picks this year and “at least” their first-rounder next year, all too land to land Griffin III.

That kind of a deal would set up the Rams for years to come if they use them right.  That would make St. Louis the biggest winner of this draft, no matter who get’s drafted first or second.

Over two years ago, a pair of SEC coaches were at each other’s throats.  Now things have changed so much they not only are no longer in the SEC, but they seem to be working together.

Those two coaches are Ohio State’s Urban Meyer and USC’s Lane Kiffin.  Kiffin was in his only season as head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers.  Meanwhile Urban Meyer’s Florida Gators were coming off their second National Championship in the last three seasons.

To make strides in recruiting publicity, Kiffin made some disparaging comments about Meyer and his Gator program.  Kiffin started the feud by stating “I love the fact that Urban had to cheat and still didn’t get him,” in regard to a recruit that ended up committing to Tennessee.

Kiffin left for USC one year later, while Meyer spent one season out of the coaching profession only to return two months ago in Columbus.  Both seem to have forgiven the other.  Kiffin apologized and Meyer reciprocated by admitting he may have acted “childish” too.

Both coaches are now in places they always dreamed of coaching.  But it took different routes and NCAA violations to make it happen.  When Kiffin left Tennessee for USC, it was after Pete Carroll left for the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks.  That was before the NCAA slapped the Trojans with the two year ban on post season play.

Urban Meyer was a graduate assistant under Earle Bruce with the Buckeyes in the early 80’s.  If it wasn’t for Jim Tressel’s mistaken gamble of not alerting his bosses of the Famous Five’s tattoo violations, Meyer would still be retired.  But once Tressel stepped down, the only choice for the Buckeye’s was Meyer.

Now these coaches talk 2-3 times per week.  Meyer has picked Kiffin’s brain on how to work through an NCAA probationary period.  Ohio State has a one year bowl ban issued by the NCAA.

The Trojans right now are widely considered to be the No. 1 team in the country going into the 2012 season.  The Buckeyes just landed a Top 10 recruiting class despite finishing 6-7 in 2011. These coaches have worked hard this off season to bring in young talent.  Thus the general consensus is it won’t be long before these two teams are back to dominating the Pac-12 and Big Ten, respectively.

The Falcons are going to allow John Abraham to test the market waters and see what kind of deal he can get from other teams instead of just locking him up.  This is wise because of how Abraham is perceived in the eyes of most people in the league.  Sure, he’s a good player, but he’s my age (34) so that means that he is no spring chicken.  Sure, he could still play well, but he’s not worth spending extra money on just to lock him up.

The Falcons have done a good job of acquiring the people they want over the past few years.  That much is plainly evident, but I just don’t think that it makes any sense for the Falcons to keep going with the same old guys on defense.  They need to change their entire identity because the defense has never been good enough.  Meanwhile, even as they try to pay the people they want on defense, they are giving up money they could be spending on people who would create a new identity that would make more sense for them.

I don’t think they need to blow up the whole team and start over, but they do need to make a change.  They’ve tried everything, and they’re going to have to try some more everythings.  Otherwise, there is going to be no way for the team to get better.  If everyone in Atlanta is happy with winning seasons and losing in the playoffs, then they’re good.  However, I think they already graduated from those expectations.  I mean, don’t people want more out of the Falcons?

This is the only way that’s going to happen.  You have to have a defense that actually works and is not filled with emotional picks and signings.  That’s the only way to make the defense more frightening and more exciting at the same time.