Saturday, March 25, 2006

Your it

In a bizarre move, the Seattle Seahawks signed Minnesota Vikings WR Nate Burleson to an offer sheet worth $49 million over seven years. If those terms sound a little familiar, they should. Earlier this week, the Vikings signed Pro Bowl G Steve Hutchinson from the Seahawks with a seven-year, $49-million deal. Seattle declined to match the offer, and Hutchinson moved on to the Vikings, after the Seahawks lost an arbitration case in which they challenged some so-called "poison pill" provisions of the offer sheet. The Seahawks, probably with a little revenge in mind - there is little doubt about the similarity to the Hutchinson contract - signed Burleson in what can only be only be described as a bizarre contract offer. The offer sheet that Burleson signed on Friday with the Seahawks features not only the same number of years and the same total payout as the Hutchinson contract, but also includes two "poison pills" that will make it virtually impossible for the Vikings to match. Minnesota has seven days to ponder the offer, but if it declines to match, will receive Seattle's third-round choice in this year's draft as compensation. The Vikings retained a right of first refusal on Burleson by making him a restricted free agent qualifying offer of $712,000. To match though, the Vikings will have to make some tough-to-swallow concessions. First, they would have to guarantee the entire contract, all $49 million, if Burleson plays five or more games in the state of Minnesota in any season of the contract. Of course, the Vikings play home games in Minneapolis. Secondly, Minnesota would have to guarantee the full contract if Burleson is paid more on average per year than all of the Minnesota running backs combined. At least for now, the averages of the Vikings' tailbacks fall well shy of the $7-million average of the Burleson offer sheet. When the Vikings signed Hutchinson to his offer sheet, they wrote into the deal a provision that guaranteed the full contract if the star guard was not the highest paid lineman on the team. The Vikings knew Seattle couldn't match the offer since Pro Bowl LT Walter Jones has a contract that averages more than Hutchinson's deal. Minnesota could challenge the "poison pill" provisions, as did the Seahawks with Hutchinson's contract. This is a story that should be fun to follow as things play out.

With plenty of questions yet to answer, Texas QB Vince Young continues his whirlwind tour of the NFL with upcoming private workouts with the Baltimore Ravens (April 2 & 3), Houston Texans (April 6), NY Jets (April 17 & 18) and tentatively with the Miami Dolphins (April 9 & 10). Team's looking to draft a potential franchise QB want to get a good look at Young before taking a chance on one of the drafts' most talented but hard-to-peg football players.

The Pro Day results keep coming in, with Auburn and Georgia going through the paces Thursday on campus for the NFL bigwigs. Auburn OT Marcus McNeill (6-7 3/8, 334), who is generally considered the drafts' top RT, only did the short shuttle (5.07 seconds) and the position drills on campus. Due to his great size and 5.07 40 time at the Combine, someone could take a chance on him in Round 1 if questions about his toughness and bad back can be answered. He has rare measurables. His position mate Troy Reddick also has great size (6-4½, 340) but stood mostly on his Combine results, where he ran a pedestrian 5.57 40 and only did 21 reps at 225 lbs. On campus, he had a 28-inch vertical jump and a 7-foot-5 broad jump. Reddick will probably move inside to OG in the pros. LB Travis Williams (5-11½, 222) ran his 40s in 4.69 and 4.75 seconds. He did 20 reps. Due to his lack of size and elite speed, Williams will probably only be a late-round possibility, but his toughness and passion for the game could make him a valuable special teamer. DE/LB tweener Stanley McClover (6-2 1/8, 258) only ran at the Pro Day and his 40 times were 4.63 and 4.71. McClover, a junior, still has a lot of questions to be answered and could have used another year in college to mature physically. He is tough, though, and has some pass-rush ability. The Bulldogs also worked out for the pros on Thursday with TE Leonard Pope being the most intriguing Georgia prospect. Pope has tremendous measurables (6-7 7/8, 256) but he only displayed his skills in the positional drills and stood on everything he did at the Combine, where he ran a 4.62 40 and did 22 reps. He could hear his name called late in the first or early in the second round because he is such a great target. OG Max Jean-Gilles is a massive (6-3¾, 343) road-grader type who displayed his strength with 31 reps on the bench. He is considered one of the top two or three guards available. S Greg Blue (6-2, 220) ran his 40s in 4.55 and 4.59 seconds. He also ran the short shuttle in 4.28 and the three-cone drill in 7.09. Blue really looks the part but is a S/LB tweener who might be better at weakside LB. CB Demario Minter (5-11¼, 185) ran his 40s in 4.48 and 4.53 seconds. He also ran the short shuttle in 4.32 and the long shuttle in 11.56. Minter is a physical corner who would fit best in a zone scheme because he falls short in man-to-man coverage. He is a decent second-day prospect. QB D.J. Shockley (6-1, 215) only did positional drills on campus, but he reportedly looked good throwing the ball. Shockley is a great athlete who many think should switch to RB or WR in the pros but he has some QB skills and could be drafted as a developmental QB who could come on after some time in NFL Europe.

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