Pro Football Weekly's Eric Edholm brings you hot news and the inside scoop about the NFL.
Who is Greg Toler and why might he be a great pick for the Cards?
One of the more intriguing, small-school players taken so far is St. Paul's (Va.) CB Greg Toler, who was taken late in Round Four by the Cardinals.
Toler, if he makes it, will have taken the long road to success. After high school, Toler lacked the grades to get a Division-I scholarship and spent a few months stocking shelves at the local J.C. Penney. Craving a football fix, Toler joined a semi-pro team ...
Null and void: Rams draft former Ryan Leaf protg
Who is Keith Null and why did the Rams draft him in the sixth round? Well, the kid did throw for 595 yards in a postseason game for West Texas A&M against Abilene Christian and had more than 9,000 yards passing in his career despite starting only two season. He's 6-foot-3, is said to be athletic and has been noted for his intelligence.
And he was tutored by a former NFL quarterback ...
An interesting tidbit or two on Ryan Succop, aka Mr. Irrelevant
So the Kansas City Piolis drafted a kicker with the final pick of the draft, and they got a guy who was a double major in finance and real estate with a minor in computer science at South Carolina.
Ryan Succop -- pronounced "suck-up" -- said a few days ago that "he would love to be drafted" but that he was realistic about his chances. Little did he know he'd be worlds more famous than Mr ...
Horn-tooting time: PFW earn high marks for Nolan's mock draft, award for photography
It's not like me to self-promote (too much), but I wanted to pass along a few bits of recognition for Pro Football Weekly in the past couple of days.
First, congrats to our own Nolan Nawrocki, tireless draft maven (who is getting a well-deserved break) and his excellent mock draft prior to this weekend. Unofficially, with 28 of 32 players correctly predicted in Round One and a ridiculous 15 correct selections matching team and ...
Here we go again ... first hurdles out of the way for (gulp) Favre return
We do it to you because he does it to us.
Sick of Brett Favre? Get in line.
And yet his history of waffling on "to play or not to play" has left the media with one choice: assume he is coming back, even when he says (again) he won't.
As you probably have heard/read, the Jets have officially severed ties with Brett Favre a few months after he said his football days ...
Childress likely irks Patriots with Harvin comment
Bill Belichick and Brad Childress won't be playing 18 at Pebble Beach, or any other course for that matter, anytime soon.
Childress commented this weekend that the Vikings were thrilled to draft Percy Harvin with the 22nd pick, despite his reported positive drug test at the Combine, which would mean one strike against him in the NFL's substance-abuse books. Childress then went on to say that the Patriots appeared set to pick Harvin ...
All that stands between Larry Foote and Detroit ... the Lions?
Larry Foote was officially released today, and the long-rumored connection with Foote's hometown Lions now can take place.
But will it?
It makes some sense. The Lions have a need at middle linebacker. Foote needs a team and isn't likely to get a ton of thrilling calls. He's 28 (29 in a month), and what's more: he actually seems to want to play for the Lions.
So why does it feel ...
Trent Greens career over? Not yet, but maybe it should be
It was just over a year ago that Trent Green’s career with the Chiefs effectively ended when he was knocked out of a game against the Bengals by defensive end Robert Geathers with a severe concussion. Though he returned to action late in the season, Green clearly wasn’t himself.
Given that he missed eight regular-season games — a far longer stretch that your average concussion — Green appeared to be one big concussion from endangering ...
Wade Phillips on Tank Johnson
I spoke to Wade Phillips this week for a feature I am working on for next week, and I found him to be fairly engaging and also quite proud of the group of guys on this team. He routinely deflected any praise directed his way and put it on his players, whom he said have worked hard and responded to the staff's coaching.
One player that was added since the start of the season ...
Turner's struggles vs. Phillips' success -- debate over retread coaches digs deep
We're four weeks into the NFL season, less than a quarter of the way through and way too early to argue anything on a grand scale. But this much we know: Wade Phillips is off to a great start in Dallas. Norv Turner is not in San Diego.
What can we glean from this?
Not much, it seems. So much was made this offseason of the disparity of the approaches taken by teams needing ...
Braylon's dad: Edwards not sure what's going on, but he likes Cleveland
Former NFL running back Stan Edwards knows how the NFL runs. He understands the business of the day-to-day operations.
But as Braylon Edwards' father, he also wishes things would go as well as they can for his son. Edwards has been the subject of some trade rumors, most recently to the Giants, and there has been eerie silence from the new Cleveland regime, which already summarily traded Kellen Winslow and could do the same with ...
Wade Phillips on Owens' release
Passed on from the Cowboys. I was wondering when ol' Wade was gonna talk ...
“I enjoyed having the opportunity to coach Terrell Owens, and I appreciate his contributions to our team over the past two years. In our time together, I saw one of the more productive and explosive players in the NFL at the receiver position. I think that when his playing days come to an end he will have compiled a career that ...
The real deal behind the T.O. story in Buffalo
Cute story about Trent Edwards texting CEO Russ Brandon to see if the Bills could go get Terrell Owens. Of course, Edwards wanted him. When I was a kid, I wanted a fire truck. I saw it, I wanted it. Edwards knows what kind of receiver Owens is; he has seen him on TV and at least once in person, when the Cowboys stormed back to beat the Bills in 2007.
Oh, to be young ...
What happens if the Lions don't take Stafford with the first pick?
This is a critical week for Georgia QB Matthew Stafford, who now has visited with Lions officials at the team's facility -- the second time the two sides have met up in the past few months, the first being at the Combine.
On March 18, Stafford will throw at his Pro Day in Athens, and the Lions are sure to send a good portion of their cognescenti -- at least GM Martin Mayhew and head coach ...
Did the Redskins tamper with Albert Haynesworth?
Check out this audio clip from ESPN Radio 980, the Redskins' flagship network, as they talk to Redskins RB-KR Rock Cartwright about his new teammate, Albert Haynesworth. Note: this was recorded on the morning of free agency, a few hours after Haynesworth signed.
About 30 seconds in, Carwright says that he kind of knew the team was going to sign Haynesworth because "they had been talking." It's more interesting than anything, although proving the ...
