NFL News For June 22, 2007

Some news to get to for today. But first a quick note about this site. I will start doing team and position closeups, getting ready for the start of training camp. The first thing that will be done is rankings of teams and players. The first rankings will be team offenses in the AFC, then NFC, then the entire NFL. Those should be available shortly. Here is the news in the NFL for today.

- Tennessee Titans cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones surrendered to Nevada police and was released on $20,000 dollar bail early this morning, more specifically at two in the morning. This is coming up two felony charges coming from a triple shooting caused by a strip club melee. The suspended Titan will plead not guilty to two felony charges of coercion from allegations that Jones threatened to kill Minxx bar employees and bit a bar bouncer at the club. If Jones is convicted of these felonies, he faces a maximum of twelve years in prison and a $10,000 fine. As you all probably know, Jones has been suspended by Roger Goodell for the whole 2007 NFL suspension because of the six arrests that he has had since he was drafted. But, if he has good behavior he could be reinstated in the eleventh game of the season. However, it does not look like Jones has had very good behavior after he received his suspension and promised Goodell that he would change, as he might have been involved in an Atlanta shooting early Monday morning. I think that this is just a sad story. He could be one of the best cornerbacks in the entire league, but he is just throwing that out the window with his outrageous behavior. There is a very good chance that he will never step onto an NFL field ever again.

- Arizona Cardinals offensive tackle Oliver Ross has taken a reduction from $2.8 million to $1.8 million for his salary this season. The 1 million dollars can be earned back by Ross with incentives dealing with playing time and performance. His salary will stay at $2.8 million for the 2008-09 season, as the reduction did not affect them. The nine-year veteran has worked at the right tackle in most spring workouts for the Cardinal's first offensive unit. He has started 17 games there in the past two years. Ross, as head coach Ken Whisenhunt said earlier, might move to left tackle, but but that has not happened yet, and will likely not happen. The reason for that is that in the offseason, Arizona signed former Bills offensive linemen Mike Gandy, and he is the projected starter at left tackle for the Cardinals. So that leaves the right tackle spot for Ross, but the number five pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, Levi Brown, might take that position. Ross will be rejoined by his former coaches when he was a Pittsburgh Steeler, Whisenhunt and Russ Grim, his former offensive line coach. Arizona hopes that Ross can fulfill their expectation for him with the new coaches, and him being healthy because he was injured with hand and knee injuries with has forced him to play only 23 appearances and 17 starts the last two seasons. That will be an interesting battle in training camp and the pre-season for the Arizona Cardinals.

- Kansas City star running back Larry Johnson has threatened to hold out if the Chiefs do not give him a new deal. Johnson has one year left on his contract, and was subject to some trade rumors earlier this offseason. Last season, Johnson compiled 1789 yards on 416 carries, getting 17 touchdowns. So, we'll have to wait and see if Larry Johnson is serious about this hold out.

Lets take a look at the chiefs running back situation with Johnson. The chiefs drafted Kolby Smith, a running back out of Louisville, in the 5th round of this years draft. Smith signed with the chiefs today, but the terms of the deal were not available. Smith was in all 13 games for Louisville last year, getting 891 yards on 154 carries and also got 7 touchdowns. He was the running back who filled in for Michael Bush when he got injured. Bush was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the 4th round of this years draft. The other Kansas City running backs are Michael Bennett, Johnson's current backup, and the youngsters Derrick Ross and Marcus O’Keith. Ross was actually the offensive co-MVP of NFL Europa this spring after rushing for 802 yards in 10 games.

The chiefs are really in trouble if Larry Johnson is not playing for them. He is one of the few playmakers on that offense, and is easily the best and most valuable player on the entire team. I do not consider the Chiefs a playoff team with Johnson, but without him the Oakland Raiders might be better.