NFL offseason thread

Myron Rolle "retiring" from football to go to medical school:

http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/men-action/201304/nfler-leaves-league-medical-school

This would be a much more interesting story if Rolle could actually, you know, play football at an elite level. He was a stud recruit out of high school and a pretty good safety at Florida State, but he never even suited up for an NFL game.

This is not exactly All-Pro Mike Reid leaving the Bengals to become a musician or even starting tight end John Frank leaving the 49ers to become a hair transplant doctor. This decision was made FOR Rolle, not by him.

 

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/blog/eye-on-football/22105431/big-ben-on-steelers-doubters-i-like-being-the-hunter

Yeah, Ben. We know you like being the hunter.

 

Reason number 98574634673983478457 why Chris Cooley is a great American.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/wp/2013/04/19/chris-cooley-reads-three-ninja-pigs-to-kids-video/

 

He has time. It's not like he will be playing for anyone next season.

 

That's a heck of a stat right there. That's one of those things you don't even think about until it happens. An even better question is how many players are there in the NFL who played college football only in the 1990's (meaning their career ended 1999 or before?

 

Actually, he'll be playing for 46 teams while collecting a salary of $34 trillion. It's going to be great!

 

James Harrison to the Bengals"
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9190791/james-harrison-agrees-deal-cincinnati-bengals

 

Another good note is that there are something like three or four guys who are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame who began their NFL careers after Hanson did.

 

Yes, it does seem that being a kicker contributes handsomely to career longevity. Wonder how many times Hanson actually got hit in 20 years?

 

the nightmare of the most over-reported story this offseason, which has almost singlehandedly supplied espn and nfl network with reportage, appears lmost over. according to espn the jets have given revis and his agents permission to talk to the bucs. so revis will undergo a physical asap so the bucs can be reassured his rehabbing knee is coming along as reported (jets docs have cleared him to begin working out without restriction, supposedly)...

now, this is the part that has always been the potential fly-in-the-ointment to me. no way can revis be 100 percent yet (his acl imploded in september). why the bucs and their docs would be willing to trade for and sign revis before he's played even a down in practice boggles my mind. yes, i'm aware how adrian peterson made acl recovery look like a snap last season but he's a freak.

seems awfully chancy when giving up at least the 13th pick in thursday's draft and an overblown new contract for revis. says here the bucs are nuts and should wait until revis has played in at least a couple of preseason games before doing this. revis, when healthy, is wonderful but you can win without a cb of his calibre. oh, well. jets should celebrate if this goes down...

 

Vinatieri, Dawson, Janikowski and Lechler for the 90s.

John Kasay was another one who kicked in college in the 80s, but he retired before last season.

 

Peyton Manning played his last college season in 1997. Same with Charles Woodson.

Tom Brady played his last college season in 1999. I'm sure there are a couple of other veteran quarterbacks in the same category (Michael Vick and Drew Brees barely missed, as both entered the league in 2001).

A better question would be if there are any who entered the NFL in 1996 or earlier (meaning their last college season was 1995 or before).

Ray Lewis was a first-round pick in 1995, but he's retired (at least for now).