Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald announced, during an appearance on XTRA-910, that the team has re-signed strength coach John Lott.
Who is John Lott?
Well, if you’ve ever watched the NFL Scouting Combine, you’ve seen Lott in action. He’s the guy who works the bench press during the league’s annual Scouting Combine, as shown in this NFL.com video of then-Utah safety Eric Weddle from 2007. (Weddle is now a starting safety for the San Diego Chargers)
Tennessee Titans running back Chris Johnson is raising eyebrows by divulging that Titans head coach Jeff Fisher valued getting Johnson topping the 2,000-yard rushing mark, even if it meant the Titans lose the regular season finale to the Seattle Seahawks.
From ProFootballTalk.com:
“I don’t know if [Jeff Fisher] wants me to say this, but the whole gameplan was me getting 2,000 yards,” Johnson said Wednesday, wearing a cardigan sweater and plaid shirt.
“He had a meeting with the whole team and he told us that we don’t have a chance to make the playoffs, so us winning the game really don’t matter. So if it causes us to lose the game to get 2,000 yards, then we’ll do that it…So I give a lot of credit to Jeff Fisher.”
To be fair, Fisher could focus on getting Johnson his 2,000 yards rushing on the season, knowing full-well that he didn’t need to put 20 points on the scoreboard to beat a Greg Knapp-run offense.
Final score that day: Titans 17, Seahawks 13
Jim Flynn of PewterReport.com is reporting that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will hire Eric Yarber to coach their wide receivers.
A former 12th round pick by the Washington Redskins out of Idaho in 1986, Yarber spent two seasons with the Redskins, catching one pass for 5 yards, and averaged 9.0 yards on 46 punt returns.
Yarber’s coaching career began at Idaho, and included stints at UNLV, Oregon State, University of Washington, and most recently, as the receivers coach at Arizona State University.
He has previous NFL experience with the Seattle Seahawks (1998) and San Francisco 49ers (2003-04).
As surprising as it may seem, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, the NFL’s highest-rated quarterback, and Tennessee Titans running back Chris Johnson, the sixth man to ever run for 2,000 yards in a single-season, were named the FedEx Air and Ground Players of the Year for 2009.
FedEx will donate $25,000 to the Safe Kids USA coalitions in Nashville and New Orleans.
Brees, who won the same award in 2006 and 2008, completed over 70% of his passes for 4,388 yards, with 34 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, for an NFL-best 109.6 passer rating in 2009. He won Fed Ex Air Player of the Week honors five times during the 17-week season.
Johnson ran for an NFL-high 2,006 yards in 2009, and also set the NFL’s single-season yards from scrimmage mark with 2,509. He topped 100-yards rushing in 11 consecutive games, an active streak he’ll take into the 2010 season. Nominated for six FedEx Ground Player of the Week awards during 2009, he took home the honors twice.
Jason La Canfora of the NFL Network reports that the Buffalo Bills have offered their assistant general manager job to Doug Whaley.
Whaley has been with the Steelers for the last 12 seasons, and is currently the team’s pro personnel coordinator. La Canfora adds that members of the Steelers front office expect Whaley to accept the position.
A native of western Pennsylvania, and a former safety/linebacker at the University of Pittsburgh, Whaley, who is in his late 30s, would add some youth to the Bills’ front office, which last month named 70-year old Buddy Nix its new general manager. Buffalo’s front office also contains Vice President of College Scouting Tom Modrak, a former general manager with the Philadelphia Eagles who previously worked for the Steelers in the same position Whaley currently holds.
Stealing a page from the playbook of Miami Dolphins outside linebacker Joey Porter, New York Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora said he doesn’t want to be a backup player anymore.
“I’ll stop playing football before I do that ever again“, Umenyiora told WFAN, according to Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News.
Umenyiora, 28, has three years and $12.2 million dollars remaining on his current contract, but came off the bench during the final month of the 2009 regular season, posting a pair of quarterback sacks and forcing a fumble as a pass-rush specialist.
The two-time Pro Bowler openly voiced his frustration with his reduced role late in the season, so it’s not surprising to hear Umenyiora continue to attempt to either engineer an off-season exit from the franchise, or press the Giants into re-visiting his role with the team.
Jets coach Rex Ryan won’t be disciplined by NFL after being fined $50K by team
Jets coach Rex Ryan won’t be disciplined by NFL after being fined $50K by team
Jets coach Rex Ryan won’t be disciplined by NFL after being fined $50K by team
Patriots receiver Brandon Tate drew plenty of interest all season. There were the stories before he made his return from a knee injury, then stories when he played, and then more when he was placed on Injured Reserve. Then, he vanished.
Until… Monday, actually. Tate popped up at Miracle Temple of Deliverance in Burlington, N.C., his hometown. And we know about it because the Burlington Times News reported on it.
The details aren’t great, but there is some stuff…
Tate told the paper his knee was “good” and called teammate Randy Moss a “real cool guy.” As for playing with teammates he used to use in video games, Tate said it’s like “a dream come true.”
Powered by WordPress