Slow Down

If football ever does have a down time, this is it. These few weeks before training camps open are the only weeks that coaches have to get away. Minnesota Vikings coach Leslie Frazier took off to Afghanistan with Bill Cowher and Eric Mangini on an NFL-USO tour. Frazier is the only one with a coaching job. As for the players, they take their breaks just after the season ends. Most are working out on their own now, or should be, to get physically ready for camp. If they break away from workouts now they risk coming into camp behind everybody else. The competition is too great and the jobs are too few.

No matter how much the league slows down at this time, it never really stops. This year there's the New Orleans Saints bounty hooey. Anyone else tired of this? Commissioner Roger Goodell just handed down his confirmation of the player suspensions. With those players likely taking the matter to the courts this is heading down the Star Caps path. At that rate we'll being dealing with this every year for a decade. Hopefully, Gregg Williams will still be watching football far away from a football field. No matter how much Drew Brees cries about it all, the Saints were caught doing something that has no place in football and lied about it. I just want to see it all end. It's ridiculous.

Beyond all the bounty stuff that was old months ago, most of the first round draft picks remain unsigned. So, there's a bunch of contract signing to be done in these slow weeks. The new CBA essentially determines the contract particulars so those should fall nicely into line. Soon! Unlike like the crazy recent past when most of those first round picks held out for at least a few days. Simply ugly times.

Then there's the excitement of the Supplemental Draft on July 12. This really is a thrilling event. No TV and the teams handle it on line. It sometimes slips by with no players selected. There's usually only a handful available. This year we have Baylor WR Josh Gordon, Boise State DB Quaylon Ewing, Syracuse RB Adam Harris, Iowa St OT Adam Haughton, Carson-Newman LB Larry Lumpkin, Georgia DE Montez Robinson, McMurray WR Houston Tuminello and TCU RB Ed Wesley. Gordon is the one player that grabs the attention of NFL decision makers. Big and fast, he looks the part of an NFL receiver. He didn't play at all last year as he ran astray of team expectations and rules. Unfortunate for him considering he would have been catching passes from Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Robert Griffin III. If his natural talent had meshed with his opportunity, he might have joined a couple of his college teammates in the first round of the regular NFL Draft. Not to tarnish the reputations of all the players that are included in the Supplemental Draft but most have done something that prevents them from continuing their college football playing days. The character issues are often the greatest concerns among these players and it is the greatest concern with Gordon. Ed Wesley may also get some attention. If a team selects a player in, say, the fourth round of this draft, they give up their fourth round pick in the next regular NFL Draft. If any of the players go undrafed they can still join a team as an undrafted free agent. The Vikings did that last year with Georgia RB Caleb King. So, we all have the NFL's Supplemental Draft to look forward to.

Happy 4th of July, everyone!