Pigskin Podcast

By Erik Bell
EBell@pigskinpodcast.com

Did the Browns really turn down second- and  fifth-round picks and up-and-coming wideout Domenik Hixon for Braylon Edwards?

In order to erase this possibility from my mind, let's move on to the Week 3 preview of the college football season.

Saturday, Sept. 19

Florida State at BYU: Our buddy Ian Guerin has predicted big things for the Seminoles this season, and Bobby Bowden is going to need them to take the heat off their off-field problems. Florida State was the youngest team in the country in 2008, trotting out 39 first-year players, and ended the season with a convincing 42-13 victory over Wisconsin in the Champs Sports Bowl to finish 9-4.

We dissect the offseasons of two of the busiest teams in the NFL -- the Patriots and Browns.

Chris Warner from PatriotsDaily.com and Chris Hutchison of TheClevelandFan.com join us to chat about their respective teams, and in the meantime, Brian, podcast newcomer Bruce Hammond and I talk about the impending labor strife in the NFL.

Don't miss this week's show!

Direct download [4.9 MB]

By Andy Barch
ABarch@pigskinpodcast.com

Just a couple of days ago, it was announced that the NFL signed a four year, $4 BILLION dollar deal with DirecTV.

As if the most popular and most demanding sports league in the United States hadn't put a stamp on its superiority in the landscape of professional sports before, it certainly has now. In a time where sponsors are cutting back on advertising dollars, large companies are going under and then getting bailed out only to give executives six-figure signing bonuses, the NFL just keeps getting richer.

The National Football League will receive a 43% annual increase over its current deal, according to the article. Not only will the NFL now receive $1 billion a year under this deal with DirecTV, but under their current deals with NBC, CBS and ESPN, they will make an additional $2.3 BILLION per season.

Here are some things we're watching as we head into this week's show:

What playoff wannabes need.

The Browns have aged quickly.

The Packers are in tough spot with veteran tackle Mark Tauscher.

Maybe NFL owners aren't crying wolf after all?

Jay Cutler may be scaring off suitors.

Julius Peppers may want to think pay cut if he wants out of Charlotte.

... and obviously, more! Tune in Friday morning.

By Joel Hammond
JHammond@pigskinpodcast.com

Our redo of the 2003 NFL Draft yielded a surprising depth to that year's proceedings: Eighteen of the first-round draftees remained in the first round.

But that was just my preconception, as our numbers have shown that that's about the norm. Here were the numbers from the first three we did:

2000: 16
2001: 17
2002: 20

How does 2004 stack up? Let's take a look. Remember, the players' original draft positions are in parentheses, and their colleges are also listed.

(Editor's note: This first appeared on CrainsCleveland.com.)

By Joel Hammond
JHammond@pigskinpodcast.com

In December, I wrote that layoffs at the NFL's world headquarters were preposterous, that a league with a billion-dollar television contract and sold-out stadiums shouldn't be laying off public relations staffers.

Since then, the teams that inhabit those sold-out stadiums and benefit from that billion-dollar contract have joined the fun.

And now, this week, the owners will chat all about how their current collective bargaining agreement has done them wrong, how they just can't go on like this for much longer -- all while lounging around at the St. Regis Hotel in Dana Point, Calif., and while the Cowboys, Jets and Giants are ready to move into spanking-new stadiums.

By Joel Hammond
JHammond@pigskinpodcast.com

Some thoughts as I watch my bracket, in a yearly tradition, goes to hell ...

As I wrote last week, I'm really starting to like former NFLer Ross Tucker's stuff on SI.com.

This week in his mailbag, he's spot on: Josh McDaniels' botching of the Jay Cutler situation -- no matter how poorly you think Cutler also has acted -- places McDaniels squarely at the top of the "Coach on the hot seat" list.

"I think McDaniels knew he needed to win now in Denver and believed his best chance to make the playoffs in 2009 or 2010 was with Cassel running the offense," Tucker writes.

By Erik Bell
EBell@pigskinpodcast.com

After taking a look at the best matchups of the first week of the 2009 college football season last Monday, let's keep on rolling in this 13-week series.

It's on to Week 2, Sept. 10-12.

Thurs., Sept. 10

Clemson at Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets are a team to watch in 2009. Paul Johnson introduced a whole new offense to the Ramblin' Wreck in his first season in 2008, and managed to go 9-4 with a victory over archrival Georgia. The Chick-fil-A Bowl, a 38-3 drubbing at the hands of LSU, was a disaster, but you'd still have to call Johnson's first season in Atlanta a surprising success.

(Editor's note: Headline with apologies to the Foo Fighters. Great song, though there is some profanity in that link.)

By Joel Hammond
JHammond@pigskinpodcast.com

Each year, players break out to make fans and fantasy players alike drool all over themselves.

In 2008, James Harrison of the Steelers led the way, winning the NFL's defensive player of the year honors, a Super Bowl title and is about to get a fat new contract.

For fantasy players, it was Michael Turner and Deangelo Williams, Roddy White and Greg Jennings.

Brian Bassett of TheJetsBlog.com joins us to chat about some of New York's offseason moves, and podcast crew members Brian George, Andy Barch and Nick Seuberling dissect the Jay Cutler debacle and the week's hot topics, including the NFL's overtime rule.

Be sure to tune in!

Direct download [4.3 MB]