The Daily Blog

No preseason could mean $800 million in losses for NFL.

The NFL could suffer losses of up to $800 million if the owners’ lockout extends into the preseason, according to ProFootballTalk.com.

The website cited a tweet by NFL spokesman Greg Aiello, who said that about $200 million is generated during each of the four weeks of exhibition games. That money helps fund the league’s salary cap and players’ regular-season game checks.

PFT speculates that if players receive 48 percent of league revenues under a new collective bargaining agreement, the loss of the entire preseason would cause players to miss out on a shared pot of $384 million while owners would lose $416 million.

The first full week of exhibition games is scheduled to begin Aug. 11, four days after the Hall of Fame Game on Aug. 7.

NFL owners reportedly willing to offer 48 percent revenue share to players.

CHICAGO — Inside a meeting room at the Westin O’Hare Hotel, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has spent Tuesday updating the 32 NFL owners about the parameters for a new collective bargainingbetween them and the players.

Although Goodell won’t address the media until after the meeting ends this afternoon, these are the highlights of the proposal, according to an ESPN.com report.

Players will receive 48 percent of all revenues, without the owners taking a $1 billion cut off the top of a $9 billion revenue model. The players’ share will never dip below 46.5 percent. Under the old CBA, the players received 60 percent, not including a $1 billion “expense credit” for the owners off the top.

Owners still will get expense credits, which will allow for stadium construction.

The rookie wage scale is being tweaked.

An 18-game schedule, previously thought to be a major proposal on the owners’ plate, will be designated only as a negotiable item with the players and is not mandated in a potential agreement.

A 16-game Thursday night TV schedule, which will be a new revenue source, will begin in 2012.

If revenues possibly double to $18 billion by 2016, retired players will benefit from improved health and pension funding.

A built-in mechanism in the new CBA will require teams to spend a minimum of 90-93 percent of the salary cap.

All players with four or more years of experience and expiring contracts would be unrestricted free agents.

Negotiations between owners and players are expected to resume later this week. Assuming there is continued progress and no unexpected setbacks, a new CBA could be in place by mid-July, which would assure training camps of starting on time. The opening preseason game, the Hall of Fame game, is scheduled for Aug. 7.

NFL Looking Into Players’ Casino Investment.

DOTHAN, Ala. — The NFL is investigating the reported investment by at least 25 NFL players in an Alabama casino that has been shut down.

League spokesman Greg Aiello confirms the investigation Friday, a day after Yahoo! Sports reported that wide receivers Terrell Owens, Santonio Holmes, Santana Moss and other players had invested some $20 million in Country Crossing casino. The report also named defensive tackle Gerard Warren and linebacker Adalius Thomas.

NFL rules bar employees from involvement with any gaming operation. Players violating that rule could be subject to fines or suspensions and have to give up their investment.

Country Crossing owner Ronnie Gilley and two of his lobbyists have pleaded guilty to offering legislators millions in bribes.

NFL to fine teams for flagrant hits.

INDIANAPOLIS — The NFL will punish teams next season if their players commit multiple flagrant hits that result in fines.

League vice president Adolpho Birch said Tuesday the discipline will be financial, although he didn’t rule out Commissioner Roger Goodell’s applying further punishment such as stripping clubs of draft choices.

Citing the “notion of club accountability,” Birch says the details of the plan haven’t been worked out. He says as a team’s total fines increase “to a certain threshold, we will enforce some … payback to encourage clubs to stay below that threshold.”

The NFL began a crackdown on illegal hits, particularly those to defenseless players, last October.

Ray Lewis says crime will rise without NFL labor settlement.

Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis says the NFL lockout could result in higher crime rates should the league continue a work stoppage.

Lewis told ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio: “Do this research if we don’t have a season — watch how much evil, which we call crime, watch how much crime picks up, if you take away our game. … There’s nothing else to do, Sal.”

NFL ARREST: Bears running back picked up on multiple charges

Lewis, though a leader on the field, has had his own fair share of “crime” off the field. Lewis, 36, was indicted on murder and aggravated assault charges in 2000. The murder charges were later dropped in exchange for Lewis’ testimony against two companions.

Never one to shy away from the camera, Lewis offers his opinion on the dispute as the NFL and the NFL Players Association enter Week 10 of the lockout.

PASSING THE LOCKOUT: Cam Newton singing Bieber | NFL player wins boxing debut

“It’s simple, we really got to remove pride. Seriously. There’s no other reason the issue is going on. That’s why I don’t get into words and all that other stuff, because it takes away from life … itself. There’s people who are really struggling for real. There’s real struggles out there,” Lewis told ESPN.

Attorneys, who returned to court Friday to argue the lockout threatens players with career-ending harm and may deprive the public of the 2011 NFL season, were denied an appeal.

The two sides return to the bargaining table for a June 3 hearing before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on the validity of the lockout.

Training camps are supposed to open in just two months, the first preseason game is Aug. 7, and the regular-season opener in Green Bay is Sept. 8.

Players call NFL a ‘cartel’ in court filing.

MINNEAPOLIS — NFL players who sued the league for alleged antitrust violations liken the league to a “cartel” in their latest court filing, again urging an appeals court to lift the lockout.

In arguments filed in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, just minutes before Friday’s midnight deadline, attorneys for the players reiterated their argument that the NFL has violated antitrust laws. They also argued the lockout has imposed immediate, career-ending threatening harm on players and may deprive the public of the 2011 professional football season.

“The players face immediate, continuing, severe irreparable injury from unlawful conduct orchestrated to force them to re-unionize against their will and make immense financial concessions,” the players’ attorneys wrote. “The NFL, by contrast, claims only a temporary loss of leverage by members of a cartel that is no longer entitled to any exemption from the antitrust laws.”

The longer the fight over how to divvy up $9 billion in annual revenue drags on, the closer the league and players get to missing games. The first preseason game is Aug. 7, with the regular season opener between the Saints and Packers set for Sept. 8 in Green Bay, Wis.

In Friday’s filing, the players reiterated that the decision to dissolve their union was their lawful right, and the absence of a collective bargaining agreement shouldn’t stop the NFL’s ability to “conduct professional football.” And, they argued, the harm they would suffer isn’t comparable to the league’s argument that it would suffer an “intangible blow to their ‘negotiating position’ and ‘leverage.’”

“The overwhelming inequity in that imbalance is patently obvious,” the players’ attorneys wrote.

The players have argued all along that their careers are being harmed by the work stoppage — they can’t work out, or sign contracts with any of the 32 clubs while the lockout persists. A federal judge in Minnesota agreed and lifted the lockout April 25, but the league appealed.

The appeals court reversed U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson’s decision just four days later. And on Monday, the appellate court ruled the lockout can stay in place until a full appeal is heard on whether it is legal. That hearing is set for June 3.

The players got some support Friday from other pro players and fans. The unions for hockey, baseball and basketball players filed a legal brief saying the lockout should be lifted because professional athletes’ careers are short, and the loss of even part of a season causes personal and professional injuries for which they can’t be compensated.

In their filing, the unions for the MLB, NBA and NHL wrote, “there is no off-season in professional sports — only the portion of the work year during which no games are played.” The unions said that part of the year brings opportunities — such as the option to change cities, teams or the trajectory of one’s career.

Also Friday, a nonprofit group that has been fighting sport work stoppages said the lockout should be lifted. The Sports Fans Coalition, which says it gives fans a voice on public policy issues and fights for fan access to games, said in a legal brief that the lockout is not in the best interest of fans, who pay billions of dollars to see their teams perform.

The players’ attorneys argued: “The NFL does not suffer irreparable harm from operating the game of football — especially at a profit.”

“Here, there is no question that the interest of the public — the fans, stadium workers, parking lot attendants, sports bars and restaurants, and local governments — favors an injunction to allow football to proceed on whatever lawful terms the NFL Defendants collectively impose,” the players’ attorneys wrote.

The group of players suing the league, including star quarterbacks Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, have said the lockout is inflicting irreparable harm on their brief playing careers by preventing them from working out at team headquarters, holding full practices with teammates and coaches and jeopardizing games.

Their attorneys wrote that suggesting monetary damages, even triple damages, would fully redress the harm to players “ignores the reality of the game.”

The NFL has argued in its appeal that lifting the labor lockout without a new contract in place would allow better-off teams to sign the best players, tipping the NFL’s competitive balance and damaging the league.

The league also said that lifting the lockout with no labor deal in place would cause chaos, with teams trying to make decisions on signing free agents and making trades under a set of rules that could change drastically under a new agreement.

The league says the union’s move to decertify after the initial bargaining talks broke down is a sham; that Nelson does not have the jurisdiction to lift the lockout; and, that she should have waited for a decision from the National Labor Relations Board before issuing that ruling.

The players disagree with all those points.

They argued that by decertifying, every player gave up many rights, including having union representation at grievances, and the right to collectively bargain and strike. Now, players seek the protections of federal antitrust laws that limit monopolies.

The players also have a federal antitrust lawsuit against the league pending before Nelson. And attorneys for the players filed documents in U.S. District Court on Friday, opposing a league request for more time to respond to the claim. The league has argued it shouldn’t have to respond to the lawsuit until the appeal over the lockout is resolved.

But the players say the lawsuit will go forward whether or not the lockout is lifted and that the NFL’s request for an extension is “yet another deliberate step in their campaign to crush the players by extending the lockout for as long as they can.”

“The players face immediate, continuing, severe irreparable injury from unlawful conduct orchestrated to force them to re-unionize against their will and make immense financial concessions,” the players’ attorneys wrote. “The NFL, by contrast, claims only a temporary loss of leverage by members of a cartel that is no longer entitled to any exemption from the antitrust laws.”

The longer the fight over how to divvy up $9 billion in annual revenue drags on, the closer the league and players get to missing games. The first preseason game is Aug. 7, with the regular season opener between the Saints and Packers set for Sept. 8 in Green Bay, Wis.

In Friday’s filing, the players reiterated that the decision to dissolve their union was their lawful right, and the absence of a collective bargaining agreement shouldn’t stop the NFL’s ability to “conduct professional football.” And, they argued, the harm they would suffer isn’t comparable to the league’s argument that it would suffer an “intangible blow to their ‘negotiating position’ and ‘leverage.’”

“The overwhelming inequity in that imbalance is patently obvious,” the players’ attorneys wrote.

The players have argued all along that their careers are being harmed by the work stoppage — they can’t work out, or sign contracts with any of the 32 clubs while the lockout persists. A federal judge in Minnesota agreed and lifted the lockout April 25, but the league appealed.

The appeals court reversed U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson’s decision just four days later. And on Monday, the appellate court ruled the lockout can stay in place until a full appeal is heard on whether it is legal. That hearing is set for June 3.

The players got some support Friday from other pro players and fans. The unions for hockey, baseball and basketball players filed a legal brief saying the lockout should be lifted because professional athletes’ careers are short, and the loss of even part of a season causes personal and professional injuries for which they can’t be compensated.

In their filing, the unions for the MLB, NBA and NHL wrote, “there is no off-season in professional sports — only the portion of the work year during which no games are played.” The unions said that part of the year brings opportunities — such as the option to change cities, teams or the trajectory of one’s career.

Also Friday, a nonprofit group that has been fighting sport work stoppages said the lockout should be lifted. The Sports Fans Coalition, which says it gives fans a voice on public policy issues and fights for fan access to games, said in a legal brief that the lockout is not in the best interest of fans, who pay billions of dollars to see their teams perform.

The players’ attorneys argued: “The NFL does not suffer irreparable harm from operating the game of football — especially at a profit.”

“Here, there is no question that the interest of the public — the fans, stadium workers, parking lot attendants, sports bars and restaurants, and local governments — favors an injunction to allow football to proceed on whatever lawful terms the NFL Defendants collectively impose,” the players’ attorneys wrote.

The group of players suing the league, including star quarterbacks Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, have said the lockout is inflicting irreparable harm on their brief playing careers by preventing them from working out at team headquarters, holding full practices with teammates and coaches and jeopardizing games.

Their attorneys wrote that suggesting monetary damages, even triple damages, would fully redress the harm to players “ignores the reality of the game.”

The NFL has argued in its appeal that lifting the labor lockout without a new contract in place would allow better-off teams to sign the best players, tipping the NFL’s competitive balance and damaging the league.

The league also said that lifting the lockout with no labor deal in place would cause chaos, with teams trying to make decisions on signing free agents and making trades under a set of rules that could change drastically under a new agreement.

The league says the union’s move to decertify after the initial bargaining talks broke down is a sham; that Nelson does not have the jurisdiction to lift the lockout; and, that she should have waited for a decision from the National Labor Relations Board before issuing that ruling.

The players disagree with all those points.

They argued that by decertifying, every player gave up many rights, including having union representation at grievances, and the right to collectively bargain and strike. Now, players seek the protections of federal antitrust laws that limit monopolies.

The players also have a federal antitrust lawsuit against the league pending before Nelson. And attorneys for the players filed documents in U.S. District Court on Friday, opposing a league request for more time to respond to the claim. The league has argued it shouldn’t have to respond to the lawsuit until the appeal over the lockout is resolved.

But the players say the lawsuit will go forward whether or not the lockout is lifted and that the NFL’s request for an extension is “yet another deliberate step in their campaign to crush the players by extending the lockout for as long as they can.”

Rooney responds to Mendenhall’s tweets about bin Laden.

If there weren’t enough tension between NFL players and owners during the league’s current labor unrest, Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall found another way to tick off his boss — with some ill-timed and ill-advised comments.

Mendenhall via Twitter, shared a series of sentiments about not believing that slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was behind the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Those thoughts, including criticism about those celebrating bin Laden’s death on Monday, prompted Steelers president Art Rooney II to make a counter statement through his team’s official website on Tuesday.

“I have not spoken with Rashard so it is hard to explain or even comprehend what he meant with his recent Twitter comments,” Rooney said. “The entire Steelers’ organization is very proud of the job our military personnel have done and we can only hope this leads to our troops coming home soon.”

Later Tuesday afternoon, Mendenhall removed one of the tweets, which was directed at former Illinois basketball player Dominique Keller.

The tweet said, “We’ll never know what really happened. I just have a hard time believing a plane could take down a skyscraper demolition style.”

Although Mendenhall, just like everyone in the United States, has freedom of speech, he should be aware that what he said has the potential to cause a public relations nightmare for what’s considered to be one of the league’s classiest franchises. Rooney wisely was just protecting the interests of his brand.

This is not the first time Mendenhall has turned some heads with his Twitter account. In March, Mendenhall supported Vikings running back Adrian Peterson’s comments that compared the players’ place in the NFL to “modern-day slavery.”

Study: Duerson had brain damage at time of suicide.

BOSTON — Dave Duerson, a former NFL player who committed suicide in February, had “moderately advanced” brain damage related to blows to the head, according to the researcher who made the diagnosis.

“It’s indisputable” that Duerson had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a disorder linked to repeated brain trauma, Dr. Ann McKee said Monday.

The findings were announced as part of an effort conducted by the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University’s School of Medicine. The CSTE Brain Bank has the brains of more than 70 athletes and military veterans, with football players comprising more than half of the athletes.

Duerson played safety in the NFL for 11 seasons, seven with the Chicago Bears, and was chosen for four Pro Bowls before retiring in 1993.

“Dave Duerson had classic pathology of CTE and no evidence of any other disease,” McKee said, “and he has severe involvement of all the (brain) structures that affect things like judgment, inhibition, impulse control, mood and memory.”

The body of Duerson, who was 50, was found in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., on Feb. 17. He left a note asking that his brain be given to the NFL’s Brain Bank. He shot himself in the chest, “presumably” to preserve his brain for study, said Chris Nowinski, co-director of the CSTE.

Duerson’s case was “moderately advanced,” said McKee, also a CSTE co-director. “The likelihood is that if he hadn’t had the CTE, he wouldn’t have developed those symptoms that he was experiencing at the end of his life and perhaps he wouldn’t have been compelled to end his life.”

Dr. Robert Cantu, another CSTE co-director, said that such results normally are published first, but the Duerson family wanted them released earlier. Duerson’s former wife, daughter and three sons attended the news conference.

“We have been given the gift of closure,” said his son, Tregg. “We accept this gift with great humility, as we are mindful of other families that have lost loved ones and still bear the burden of unanswered questions.”

CSTE is a collaboration between Boston University Medical School and the Sports Legacy Institute, headed by Nowinski. The center has been aggressively researching head trauma in sports, and has received a $1 million gift from the NFL, which it has pushed for better treatment of concussions.

Duerson was a third-round draft choice by the Bears out of Notre Dame in 1983. He played safety on the team that won the Super Bowl in the 1985 season. He moved to the New York Giants for one season in 1990 then played his last three NFL years with the Phoenix Cardinals.

He went to another Super Bowl with the Giants.

Nowinski said “the latest version of the NFL’s guidelines (on concussions) are well thought out. And, I think, with the state of the science today, it’s about the best we can do.”

But he said the problem starts much earlier, in youth football.

“The 6-year-olds are playing the same games as the pros when we know that their brains are far more susceptible to this damage,” he said. “My next focus is how do we change youth football so that a kid doesn’t show up in the NFL with 10,000 hits to their head already?”

 

NFL lockout returns, to players’ and teams’ dismay.

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — The wildest week in NFL history had one more twist at the end and it means football is off limits again.

The NFL locked out its players Friday night after its first legal victory in the fight with the players over the future of the $9 billion business.

The players who showed up smiling and relieved to be back at work Friday morning are now cooling their heels. The ups and downs of the day — and the weeks and months of this labor dispute — may be taking their toll with the first preseason game little more than three months away.

“It’s crazy and it’s really, really making it difficult to plan,” Bengals quarterback Jordan Palmer said. “It’s just really hectic. Everybody I’ve talked to is very thrown off by the situation.”

Raiders quarterback Bruce Gradkowski vented on Twitter: “Gosh I just wanna get back to work and play! I feel bad for our fans having to put up with this.”

The day began with dozens, if not hundreds, of players reporting to team facilities all over the league. They met with coaches, picked up playbooks and went through workouts for the first time since they were locked out after talks for a new collective bargaining agreement broke down March 11.

“From the players’ standpoint I think everybody is pleased we’re not locked out anymore, especially the rookies,” Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said on CNBC in his first public comments about the dispute since he became a plaintiff in the still-pending federal antitrust lawsuit filed against the owners.

Not so fast, Tom.

U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson’s order lifting the 45-day lockout on Monday was temporarily stayed by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis. The NFL made its decision a few hours later.

Teams “have been told that the prior lockout rules are reinstated effective immediately,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told The Associated Press.

Agent Peter Schaffer said he has advised his clients to abide by the court’s ruling.

“You can’t have convenient justice,” Schaffer said. “Whatever the ruling of the day is, it must be followed. So I have told my players to stay away from the facilities.”

The appeals court is expected to rule next week on the NFL’s request for a more permanent stay that would last through its appeal of Nelson’s injunction, a process expected to take 6-8 weeks.

“Nobody’s happy about any of this,” Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson said. “But it is what it is. The lockout is back into effect.”

Teams had announced plans for organized practices and camps as early as next week, but those have again been put on hold.

“Chaotic,” Vikings receiver Bernard Berrian wrote on Twitter. “I dunno where to go.”

Coaches and general managers scrambled to bring their first-round picks in on Friday during what proved to be a brief window of time. They started to give the youngsters crash courses in what they wanted them to work on in the event that the lockout does drag on into the summer.

Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland said teams had no choice but to “go with the flow.”

“It was good to see the players today, great to see some of those guys, and wish it would have lasted a little longer,” Ireland said.

The NFL’s victory came in a venue considered more favorable to businesses than the federal courts in Minnesota, though it was a narrow one. The 2-1 decision from a panel of the 8th Circuit included a lengthy dissent from Judge Kermit Bye, who suggested temporary stays should be issued only in emergencies.

“The NFL has not persuaded me this is the type of emergency situation which justifies the grant of a temporary stay,” Bye wrote.

Jim Quinn, the lead attorney for the players, downplayed Friday’s order and was heartened by the dissent.

“Routine grant of stay and totally expected,” he said. “The only surprise is that Judge Bye is so strongly against giving them even a tiny stay because the league obviously can’t show it is necessary.”

Agents were concerned with how undrafted rookies will find work with teams unable to sign free agents after the draft concludes on Saturday.

“The owners will create a huge injustice to their own GMs and personnel departments if they don’t allow the signing of undrafted free agents,” said agent Joe Linta, whose clients include Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco. “They may not care about the players, but they should at least help their own scouts, coaches and personnel people who have worked so hard in the scouting process.”

The volatile atmosphere is rocking a league that thrives on routine and stability, and it doesn’t figure to settle down soon.

“It seems like you hear something different almost hourly,” Lions defensive end and player rep Kyle Vanden Bosch said. “This is a difficult situation for everybody involved.”

Attorneys for the players had argued against a stay of Nelson’s order, suggesting that the public and the players, with their short careers, are at far more risk when the business is stalled.

“Professional football is part of the fabric of American life,” the attorneys wrote. “Because the uncontroverted record of evidence shows that the 2011 season could be canceled or significantly curtailed without an injunction in place, a stay may deprive the public of professional football altogether.”

Said Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver: “It’d be great to have everybody back in the building, but the real thing is we’ve got to get back to the negotiating table and get a CBA.

2011 NFL Draft Results: Look Back At All 32 First-Round Picks.

The first round of the 2011 NFL Draft is now history. The second and third rounds will take place on Friday night, but let’s take a look back at the picks from Thursday night before we start shifting our focus completely toward tonight. After the jump is a rundown of the first-round 2011 NFL Draft results.

 Pick Team (1)(Carolina Panthers)Cam Newton, Auburn QB-(2)(Denver Broncos)Von Miller, Texas A&M LB-(3)(Buffalo Bills)Marcell Dareus, Alabama DL-(4)(Cincinnati Bengals)A.J. Green, Georgia WR-(5)(Arizona Cardinals)Patrick Peterson, LSU CB-(6)(Atlanta Falcons)Julio Jones, Alabama WR-(7)(San Francisco 49ers)Aldon Smith, Missouri DE-(8)(Tennessee Titans)Jake Locker, Washington QB-(9)(Dallas Cowboys)Tyron Smith, USC OT-(10)(Jacksonville Jaguars)Blaine Gabbert, Missouri QB-(11)(Houston Texans)J.J. Watt, Wisconsin DE-(12)(Minnesota Vikings)Christian Ponder, FSU QB-(13)(Detroit Lions)Nick Fairley, Auburn DT-(14)(St. Louis Rams)Robert Quinn, UNC DE-(15)(Miami Dolphins)Mike Pouncey, Florida OL-(16)(Washington Redskins)Ryan Kerrigan, Purdue DE-(17)(New England Patriots)Nate Solder, Colorado OL-(18)(San Diego Chargers)Corey Liuget, Illinois DT-(19)(New York Giants)Prince Amukamara, Nebraska CB-(20)(Tampa Bay Buccaneers)Adrian Clayborn, Iowa DE-(21)(Cleveland Browns)Phil Taylor, Baylor DT-(22)(Indianapolis Colts)Anthony Castonzo, Boston College OT-(23)(Philadelphia Eagles)Danny Watkins, Baylor OL-(24)(New Orleans Saints)Cameron Jordan, Cal DE-(25)(Seattle Seahawks)James Carpenter, Alabama OL-(26)(Kansas City Chiefs)Jonathan Baldwin, Pitt WR-(27)(Baltimore Ravens)Jimmy Smith, Colorado CB-(28)(New Orleans Saints)Mark Ingram, Alabama RB-(29)(Chicago Bears)Gabe Carimi, Wisconsin OT-(30)(New York Jets)Muhammad Wilkerson, Temple DT-(31)(Pittsburgh Steelers)Cam Heyward, Ohio State DL-(32)(Green Bay Packers)Derek Sherrod, Mississippi State OT.

Just based on the first round, I think I have to give the Saints the most impressive draft so far. Of course, that is mainly because they ended up with two first-round picks, but I really like the value they got with Cameron Jordan and Mark Ingram. This isn’t a team lacking talent by any means, but they managed to go out and add two impressive players already.

Of course, I also like what the Detroit Lions did as well. Some have called getting Nick Fairley the steal of the first round, and considering he was viewed as a top five pick by some, I can’t necessarily disagree with that mindset.