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10 Truths: Pacman, the draft, and Ocho Cinco
by Jason Whitlock
Jason Whitlock brings his edgy and thought-provoking style to FOXSports.com. Columnist for the Kansas City Star, he has won the National Journalism Award for Commentary for "his ability to seamlessly integrate sports and social commentary and to challenge widely held assumptions along the racial divide."
Updated: April 24, 2008, 11:22 AM EST 10 comments
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The NFL Truths are back with a special Draft Edition:
10. Yes, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is absolutely crazy for adding Pacman Jones to an already volatile personality mix in Big D, but I kind of see what he's thinking.
He's thinking that he's won Super Bowls in the 1990s with a cast of characters who could go raindrop to raindrop with Pacman in any strip club across the globe. The Cowboys — even before Jones' ownership — never won Super Bowls with choir boys.
To Jones, Pacman looks no different from Michael "The Pipemaker" Irvin or Nate "The Weed Man" Newton or Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson or the group of Cowboys who opened the infamous "White House" in the 1990s.
From here on out, let's call Jerry Jones the Statue of Liberty and picture him standing in front of Texas Stadium saying: "give me your criminal, your drunk, your talented masses yearning to support single pole workers."
Right now, Jones is the Tom Osborne of professional football. Jones believes he can save young men by using football. He turned Terrell Owens into a relatively good teammate. Jones — taking a cue from President Bush — unarmed Tank Johnson of his weapons of mass destruction.
Why not add Pacman Jones?
According to published reports, Pacman has been stripped of most of his contract leverage. The Cowboys owe him no guaranteed dollars. It won't be costly in terms of real dollars or cap dollars for the Cowboys to cut Pacman.
Many of you are probably outraged that a loser like Pacman Jones is going to be brought back into the NFL. He's been arrested or questioned by police a half dozen times during his brief NFL career. He was in some way involved in a shooting incident at a strip club that left a young man paralyzed. And despite a direct appeal by commissioner Roger Goodell to avoid strip clubs, Pacman has continued to make it rain.
I realize all of this, and I'm glad Pacman may get another shot at playing professional football, pending Goodell's approval. Pacman needs the structure. He needs an organization to take an interest in his personal development. If he screws up again, Goodell will permanently banish Pacman and Jerry Jones will only have egg on his face.
Pacman will run out of chances long before society runs out of punishment options.
9. The Dolphins cut a deal with the wrong Long.
With Jason Taylor wanting out of Miami, taking Virginia defensive end and son of a Hall of Famer Chris Long should've been an easy decision for Bill Parcells. I'd rather give a pass-rusher $30 million in guarantees than an offensive tackle who might be too stiff to play on the left side.
Everyone keeps calling Michigan tackle Jake Long the next Joe Thomas. I'm unsure of the comparison. Thomas is a sleek athlete, a bigger Lomas Brown. Long is a big, bruising mauler. Maybe he's cut from the same cloth as Willie Roaf, who dominated the left side with a right-tackle approach.
If Jake Long ends up being a Pro Bowl right tackle, then Parcells made a mistake.
8. The Vikings did not get ripped off in their Jared Allen trade with the Chiefs. Allen joining the Williams Wall could signal the return of the Purple People Eaters.
The early reviews suggest the Vikings surrendered too much — a first, two third-round picks and a $74 million contract — in exchange for Allen. I say the compensation is fair.
Allen established himself as the best defensive end in football while playing with a collection of average defensive linemen in Kansas City. He's never played alongside a dominant or even good defensive tackle. In Pro Bowlers Pat and Kevin Williams, Allen will be paired with the best DT combo in the league. Allen might collect a few garbage sacks just from having a strong push up the middle.
Allen also played on K.C. teams with weak corners — meaning he rarely got "coverage sacks."
Allen recorded 15.5 sacks in 2007 despite being suspended for the first two games. Going to Minnesota, I'm sure Allen's goal will be 20 sacks this season. He might get it. If he does, no one will think the Vikings paid too much to get him.
7. The Chiefs do, however, deserve credit for securing a fair trade for Allen, especially considering Allen was a fire sale.
Chiefs general manager Carl Peterson had absolutely no choice but to deal Allen. Peterson should've started Kansas City's rebuilding a year ago before he gave Larry Johnson a new contract. Johnson's poor, bad-attitude and injury-riddled 2007 season foreshadowed that there was no way the Chiefs would be willing to pay Allen.
Peterson gambled on Johnson, giving him $19 million in guarantees. The gamble blew up and the Chiefs finished 4-12.
6. Don't be surprised if Larry Johnson is the new Shaun Alexander next offseason. And don't be surprised when Darren McFadden falls in this weekend's draft because of Johnson and Alexander.
Is Larry Johnson heading down the same path as Shaun Alexander? (Dilip Vishwanat / Getty Images)
The value of NFL running backs is the only stock that has fallen faster than Bear Stearns. Given the size and speed of modern players and the super-fast surfaces the game is now played on, the running back position is too physical and too high-risk for injuries for teams to invest large sums of money.
The Seahawks cut Alexander 26 months after giving him a huge contract. The Chiefs might be in a similar dilemma with Larry Johnson next off-season. He got hurt a couple of months after inking his new deal. He realizes he's unlikely to ink a third big-money contract. He's had his payday and now the goal could (and should) be to make it to the finish line of his career relatively healthy.
The NFL does everything in its power to protect the health of its quarterbacks. Running backs are left to fend for themselves. Ducking out of bounds and hitting the turf early are their only legitimate options.
McFadden has a ton of questions about his character. That's a terrible recipe when you play a position that is already losing value. I love Run DMC. He reminds me of Marcus Allen with speed. But I'm not sure I'd draft him in the top eight.
5. I have flip-flopped on Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan at least four times since the end of college football season.
As of today, I'm calling him the Dan Marino of this draft. Teams are going to regret passing on Ryan. He's Drew Brees with size and arm strength. Physically, Ryan has all the tools that make Tom Brady a special quarterback.
Look, I'm not comparing Ryan to Brady. There are intangibles that make Brady one of the top five quarterbacks of all time. We have no idea at this time whether Ryan has those intangibles, the most important one being pocket toughness.
Ryan might melt when Mike Strahan and Jared Allen start harassing him. If Ryan remains cool under pressure, he could develop into a perennial Pro Bowler.
4. I do not like Ohio State defensive end Vernon Gholston. He looks like a bodybuilder rather than a football player.
Talk to Whitlock
Jason Whitlock wants to know what you think about the important issues in sports today. Contact him here.
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Name: (ex, john doe)
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The best defensive ends look like basketball players who spent the off-season lifting weights. Gholston looks like a weight lifter who spent the off-season playing basketball. You can overpower offensive tackles in the college game. You can't do it in the pros. You have to use athleticism and nimbleness to thump and quickly disengage.
3. My money is still on Matt Walsh having nothing of substance to say to Roger Goodell about Spygate.
Walsh is attention-starved and delighted that he will now go down in history as the man who raised questions about the ethics of a Hall of Fame coach. He'll have a few difficult-to-prove allegations about Bill Belichick's scouting tactics. But Walsh won't have a smoking gun.
He reminds me of the guy who has an angry breakup with a girl and then spreads around the naked pictures she let him take during a drunken weekend. The pics are fun to look at, but I always lose more respect for the guy than the girl.
2. Can someone explain to me why the Bengals didn't pull the trigger on a Chad Johnson-to-the-Redskins trade?
Sending any big-time player to Daniel Snyder's Redskins is a virtual guarantee that the player will stink. This would be totally different from allowing Corey Dillon to escape to the New England Patriots. Johnson wouldn't win a Super Bowl in Washington. Johnson wouldn't be vindicated. The Bengals could unload Johnson's contract, bad attitude and locker-room cancer.
1. If Kobe "Brett Favre" Bryant doesn't win the NBA's MVP award, the trophy will lose all of its credibility.
And I referred to the Lakers great as Brett Favre intentionally. They both threaten to quit when their teams don't make the off-season moves they suggest. They're both the best reasons to watch the NBA and NFL.
by Jason Whitlock
Jason Whitlock brings his edgy and thought-provoking style to FOXSports.com. Columnist for the Kansas City Star, he has won the National Journalism Award for Commentary for "his ability to seamlessly integrate sports and social commentary and to challenge widely held assumptions along the racial divide."
Updated: April 24, 2008, 11:22 AM EST 10 comments
add this RSS blog email print
The NFL Truths are back with a special Draft Edition:
10. Yes, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is absolutely crazy for adding Pacman Jones to an already volatile personality mix in Big D, but I kind of see what he's thinking.
He's thinking that he's won Super Bowls in the 1990s with a cast of characters who could go raindrop to raindrop with Pacman in any strip club across the globe. The Cowboys — even before Jones' ownership — never won Super Bowls with choir boys.
To Jones, Pacman looks no different from Michael "The Pipemaker" Irvin or Nate "The Weed Man" Newton or Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson or the group of Cowboys who opened the infamous "White House" in the 1990s.
From here on out, let's call Jerry Jones the Statue of Liberty and picture him standing in front of Texas Stadium saying: "give me your criminal, your drunk, your talented masses yearning to support single pole workers."
Right now, Jones is the Tom Osborne of professional football. Jones believes he can save young men by using football. He turned Terrell Owens into a relatively good teammate. Jones — taking a cue from President Bush — unarmed Tank Johnson of his weapons of mass destruction.
Why not add Pacman Jones?
According to published reports, Pacman has been stripped of most of his contract leverage. The Cowboys owe him no guaranteed dollars. It won't be costly in terms of real dollars or cap dollars for the Cowboys to cut Pacman.
Many of you are probably outraged that a loser like Pacman Jones is going to be brought back into the NFL. He's been arrested or questioned by police a half dozen times during his brief NFL career. He was in some way involved in a shooting incident at a strip club that left a young man paralyzed. And despite a direct appeal by commissioner Roger Goodell to avoid strip clubs, Pacman has continued to make it rain.
I realize all of this, and I'm glad Pacman may get another shot at playing professional football, pending Goodell's approval. Pacman needs the structure. He needs an organization to take an interest in his personal development. If he screws up again, Goodell will permanently banish Pacman and Jerry Jones will only have egg on his face.
Pacman will run out of chances long before society runs out of punishment options.
9. The Dolphins cut a deal with the wrong Long.
With Jason Taylor wanting out of Miami, taking Virginia defensive end and son of a Hall of Famer Chris Long should've been an easy decision for Bill Parcells. I'd rather give a pass-rusher $30 million in guarantees than an offensive tackle who might be too stiff to play on the left side.
Everyone keeps calling Michigan tackle Jake Long the next Joe Thomas. I'm unsure of the comparison. Thomas is a sleek athlete, a bigger Lomas Brown. Long is a big, bruising mauler. Maybe he's cut from the same cloth as Willie Roaf, who dominated the left side with a right-tackle approach.
If Jake Long ends up being a Pro Bowl right tackle, then Parcells made a mistake.
8. The Vikings did not get ripped off in their Jared Allen trade with the Chiefs. Allen joining the Williams Wall could signal the return of the Purple People Eaters.
The early reviews suggest the Vikings surrendered too much — a first, two third-round picks and a $74 million contract — in exchange for Allen. I say the compensation is fair.
Allen established himself as the best defensive end in football while playing with a collection of average defensive linemen in Kansas City. He's never played alongside a dominant or even good defensive tackle. In Pro Bowlers Pat and Kevin Williams, Allen will be paired with the best DT combo in the league. Allen might collect a few garbage sacks just from having a strong push up the middle.
Allen also played on K.C. teams with weak corners — meaning he rarely got "coverage sacks."
Allen recorded 15.5 sacks in 2007 despite being suspended for the first two games. Going to Minnesota, I'm sure Allen's goal will be 20 sacks this season. He might get it. If he does, no one will think the Vikings paid too much to get him.
7. The Chiefs do, however, deserve credit for securing a fair trade for Allen, especially considering Allen was a fire sale.
Chiefs general manager Carl Peterson had absolutely no choice but to deal Allen. Peterson should've started Kansas City's rebuilding a year ago before he gave Larry Johnson a new contract. Johnson's poor, bad-attitude and injury-riddled 2007 season foreshadowed that there was no way the Chiefs would be willing to pay Allen.
Peterson gambled on Johnson, giving him $19 million in guarantees. The gamble blew up and the Chiefs finished 4-12.
6. Don't be surprised if Larry Johnson is the new Shaun Alexander next offseason. And don't be surprised when Darren McFadden falls in this weekend's draft because of Johnson and Alexander.
Is Larry Johnson heading down the same path as Shaun Alexander? (Dilip Vishwanat / Getty Images)
The value of NFL running backs is the only stock that has fallen faster than Bear Stearns. Given the size and speed of modern players and the super-fast surfaces the game is now played on, the running back position is too physical and too high-risk for injuries for teams to invest large sums of money.
The Seahawks cut Alexander 26 months after giving him a huge contract. The Chiefs might be in a similar dilemma with Larry Johnson next off-season. He got hurt a couple of months after inking his new deal. He realizes he's unlikely to ink a third big-money contract. He's had his payday and now the goal could (and should) be to make it to the finish line of his career relatively healthy.
The NFL does everything in its power to protect the health of its quarterbacks. Running backs are left to fend for themselves. Ducking out of bounds and hitting the turf early are their only legitimate options.
McFadden has a ton of questions about his character. That's a terrible recipe when you play a position that is already losing value. I love Run DMC. He reminds me of Marcus Allen with speed. But I'm not sure I'd draft him in the top eight.
5. I have flip-flopped on Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan at least four times since the end of college football season.
As of today, I'm calling him the Dan Marino of this draft. Teams are going to regret passing on Ryan. He's Drew Brees with size and arm strength. Physically, Ryan has all the tools that make Tom Brady a special quarterback.
Look, I'm not comparing Ryan to Brady. There are intangibles that make Brady one of the top five quarterbacks of all time. We have no idea at this time whether Ryan has those intangibles, the most important one being pocket toughness.
Ryan might melt when Mike Strahan and Jared Allen start harassing him. If Ryan remains cool under pressure, he could develop into a perennial Pro Bowler.
4. I do not like Ohio State defensive end Vernon Gholston. He looks like a bodybuilder rather than a football player.
Talk to Whitlock
Jason Whitlock wants to know what you think about the important issues in sports today. Contact him here.
Subject:
Comment/Question:
Name: (ex, john doe)
Email: (ex, a@b.c)
Hometown:
The best defensive ends look like basketball players who spent the off-season lifting weights. Gholston looks like a weight lifter who spent the off-season playing basketball. You can overpower offensive tackles in the college game. You can't do it in the pros. You have to use athleticism and nimbleness to thump and quickly disengage.
3. My money is still on Matt Walsh having nothing of substance to say to Roger Goodell about Spygate.
Walsh is attention-starved and delighted that he will now go down in history as the man who raised questions about the ethics of a Hall of Fame coach. He'll have a few difficult-to-prove allegations about Bill Belichick's scouting tactics. But Walsh won't have a smoking gun.
He reminds me of the guy who has an angry breakup with a girl and then spreads around the naked pictures she let him take during a drunken weekend. The pics are fun to look at, but I always lose more respect for the guy than the girl.
2. Can someone explain to me why the Bengals didn't pull the trigger on a Chad Johnson-to-the-Redskins trade?
Sending any big-time player to Daniel Snyder's Redskins is a virtual guarantee that the player will stink. This would be totally different from allowing Corey Dillon to escape to the New England Patriots. Johnson wouldn't win a Super Bowl in Washington. Johnson wouldn't be vindicated. The Bengals could unload Johnson's contract, bad attitude and locker-room cancer.
1. If Kobe "Brett Favre" Bryant doesn't win the NBA's MVP award, the trophy will lose all of its credibility.
And I referred to the Lakers great as Brett Favre intentionally. They both threaten to quit when their teams don't make the off-season moves they suggest. They're both the best reasons to watch the NBA and NFL.
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