Goings On in the League

Gents,
It seems like it was so long ago that I (make that Jamaal Charles) thoroughly beat Taylor's ass in the championship game.  And yet, it was nary even 3 months ago.  I know most of you jerks are distracted by basketball for some reason right now, but since I don't have that handicap, I thought I would write a little note about some interesting developments in the past few months/weeks.

1. Thomas Jones WILL BE RELEASED sometime this week.  Sources say this will happen March 5. It looks like Tyler might have at least one keeper (Shonn Greene) on his team now.  As for Jones, this is interesting.  It's kind of hard to tell if he still has it or if the Jets' O-line was just that good.  Either way, I see a couple of teams who might be interested in picking him up: the Lions and perhaps the Patriots.  I would say Seattle but I doubt they would want both of the Joneses in their backfield.

2. LT was released.  This is no surprise.  I don't think he's got it anymore, and I think you would be wise to stay away from him, but, again, I could see the Lions and maybe the Hawks making him an offer.  Obviously, LT wouldn't want to play for the classless Bill Belichik.

3. Along those lines, Sproles wasn't offered a deal by the Chargers.  This is kind of surprising to me because the Chargers totally lack any depth if Sproles gets away. Now that I think about it, they might want to bring Thomas Jones aboard for some experience in the backfield.  They can probably get him for a fair price and they must have some confidence in Michael Bennett since he'll be all that's left.  I wasn't particularly impressed during the limited action he saw last season.

4. T.O. is out of Buffalo and headed...?  Sources seem to think that the Ravens are pretty interested.  Maybe they can bring back Jerry Rice and round out their receiving corps with Michael Irvin to complete the oldest bunch of wideouts ever to suit up.

5. Westbrook is gone.  This isn't really a surprise either.  Will McCoy be able to replace him?  It sure didn't seem that way, but Brandon's hoping he will.

Those are actual happenings, but I am pretty excited about this draft.  It is supposedly running-back heavy, but I'm not buying it.  This class might be one of the hardest to project into fantasy production, although that picture may clear once the draft actually happens.  I heard Best and Spiller both ran sub 4.4 40's, so Al Davis is probably going to try to make a move.  The Raiders definitely need more speed and another RB.

It will also be interesting to see what happens in the Cowboys' and Giants' backfields.  It seems oddly crowded, yet somehow necessary with how injury-prone they all are.  Alas, there aren't many really difficult keeper decisions to be made this off-season as I see it.  Taylor definitely has the toughest decision, especially if that Carolina backfield gets separated.  I rank Jason second in the decision-making dilemma.  I'm hoping there is a little more aggressiveness in the trade market from the perennial Loser's Bracket contenders.