Football

The Star-Ledger — USA Today Sports The New York Giants used their fifth-round pick on Richmond S Cooper Taylor. Taylor initially played at Georgia Tech before a heart condition halted his career temporarily. Taylor transferred to Richmond after losing his spot in the Yellow Jackets’ starting lineup once the condition was corrected. However, Taylor has a chance to impact the defense sooner than most think. Defensive coordinator Perry Fewell began to utilize his three-safety look heavily in the Super Bowl-winning 2011 season, when he allowed S Deon Grant to play along with S Antrel Rolle and S Kenny Phillips. It worked in some instances, mainly because the Giants weren’t necessarily deep on talent at the linebacker position. The emergence of S Stevie Brown last season ensures that he’ll be starting opposite Rolle in the 2013 season. However, if Fewell decides to implement the three-safety look, he could look to Taylor to be the third safety. The Giants also have S Tyler Sash, S Will Hill and S Ryan Mundy so Taylor isn’t going to be given the position. He’ll have to earn it. Taylor is 6’4 and 230 pounds so it is plausible to think the Giants may ask him to beef up a little to play linebacker. He may not want to do that, but he’ll probably need to if he wants to see playing time. He’ll obviously be contributing on special teams right away. Usually, hard work and solid play on special teams helps your cause. Taylor has compared himself to former Giants’ CB Jason Sehorn. Sehorn was 6’2” and big for a corner. He was the only white man at the position during his tenure in the league. Sash is white as well as Taylor, but Taylor has the build of a tight end or quarterback when you take a look at him. Sehorn ended up being solid for the Giants. Let’s see if Taylor can do the same.

Most of you didn't join the Falcons fanwagon post-Michael Vick. Some of you did, but most of you experienced at least part of the infamous dark years. Yes, the dark years, those years which shall not be mentioned. Heck, some of you experienced forty plus years of them. Now, as franchises go, the Falcons are top notch. There's only one big reason that's true: the front office. Two of [Thomas Dimitroff's] former directors of player personnel — Les Snead, St. Louis' general manager, and David Caldwell, the general manager at Jacksonville — now run their own clubs and both appear to be steering their franchises in the right direction. Two recent columns by Don Banks of Sports Illustrated and Jason La Canfora from CBS Sports ranked the front offices in the NFL and Dimitroff and his current staff is high on those lists. Nothing to see here, just accolades en masse for the Falcons' front office. Huzzah!

Earlier tonight, Fox debuted the fourth season of their show Master Chef. During the season premiere, one hundred different home/amateur chefs attempt to impress Chefs Gordon Ramsay, Joe Bastianich, and Graham Elliot with one signature dish. If two of the three like it, the person gets a white apron and moves on. If not, they leave. One notable audition during the premiere was former Miami Dolphins cornerback Eddie Jackson. Jackson made a jerk meatloaf for the three chefs to try. Jackson played for the Dolphins in 2005 and 2006. He initially entered the league as an undrafted free agent in 2004 with the Carolina Panthers. With Miami, he appeared in 29 games, starting three, and recorded two passes defensed and 25 tackles. Near the end of the 2006 season, Jackson tore his ACL and was placed on injured reserve. The Dolphins did not tender him as a restricted free agent after the season. After his time with Miami, Jackson was signed by the New England Patriots for the 2007 season, but broke his wrist three games into the season and was released. He attempted a come back the next season with the Washington Redskins, but did not make it out of training camp. As he was being introduced on the show, the network displayed an image of Jackson from the 2005 season in his Dolphins uniform. In case you don't want to know the results of Jackson's audition, stop reading here (aka Spoiler Alert). If you don't really care, read on. Jackson received yes votes from two of the three judges, and will be a member of the competition show. More Dolphins Coverage: Goodell: NFL Draft could move from New York Ross statement after Miami shut out of Super Bowls Dolphins rookie Jamar Taylor has hernia surgery Phinsider Community Interactive Map Dolphins Historical Perspective Part 2 - 1967-1969

Dec 23, 2012; Houston, TX, USA; Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen (69) sacks Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub (8) during the third quarter at Reliant Stadium. The Vikings won 23-6. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports Defensive End Jared Allen is in the final year of his 6-year contract with the Minnesota Vikings.  As it currently stands, he is set to count as nearly $17 million against the salary cap.  Even though the Vikings have not approached him about taking a pay cut or restructuring his contract, that didn’t stop the 2-time season sack leader from commenting on the situation. Recently, in an interview with Dan Wiederer of the Star Tribune, the star Defensive End had some interesting words to say about his current contract situation and desire to restructure: Dec 23, 2012; Houston, TX, USA; Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen (69) warms up before the game against the Houston Texans at Reliant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports “You use the word restructure and that to me makes it feel like they’d want me to take a pay cut. And if anybody asked me to take a pay cut, I’d be through the first door out of there. So no. We haven’t talked one iota. It is what it is. And we’re going to go about our business and play good ball and try to win a Super Bowl. And like I said the business stuff? We take care of that in the offseason. I have people to do that. That’s why I don’t get into it. You’re not going to hear it from me. I won’t complain. I go about my business.” There are many ways to interpret these comments.  When Allen says “I’d be through the first door out of there”, it is unclear if he means from the negotiations, from the team, or from the contract in general.  After seeing what happened to veteran Cornerback Antoine Winfield when he declined to take a pay cut, it is quite a confident statement from Jared Allen. Dec 2, 2012; Green Bay, WI, USA; Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen (69) during the game against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. The Packers defeated the Vikings 23-14. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports Allen is coming off a year where he struggled mightily with shoulder and knee injuries and he is also not getting any younger.  Even though he is only 31 years old, he has some stiff competition at the Defensive End position.  He will be entering his 10th NFL season this year and will have to beat out some younger competition at Defensive End in Brian Robison and Everson Griffen, who both are also entering the final season of their contracts. It is still unclear if Jared Allen will be a Minnesota Viking next year.  Jared is one of the most popular players on the Vikings team and is also one of the best known.  He has shown that he is one of the best players in the NFL when he is healthy and still has a lot of gas left in the tank.  Next offseason, Vikings fans should be holding their breath to see if the Mullet Militia returns to Minnesota after this year.

Wait, What, Hun ??? We add another Browns LB for training camp? Well another training camp body is added to the roster. Rau 6-1 235lb LB out of Portland State U has bounced around from the Eagles to the Browns an now for some reason we put in a claim on him. Rau appeared in four games with the Eagles in 2012 collecting 3.0 tackles, 2.0 solo, 1.0 assisted. Rau is a hardworker but it is doubtful he makes the final 53 man roster. Given the fact that we have C.Blackburn, J. Senn, J. Williams, AJ Klein, Doug Hogue, an lastly recently signed Rau+Ben Jacobs also formerly of the Browns we now have a lot of LB's for training camp. I have no idea why we put in a claim on this kid seems like a hardworker similar to T. Williams who we had in camp a couple of seasons ago an still got cut; maybe Rivera just wants to take as many players away from CHUD as possible, LOL ? If we can stay healthy J. Beason/L. Kuechly/T. Davis are our penciled in starters for week one against the Seahawks with C. Blackburn, AJ Klein & J. Senn as our backup's for all three LB spots. C. Blackburn, AJ Klein, J. Senn are all locks at this point in my book b.c. Senn is an effective ST leader/"C" and can start when asked and be pretty effective as we have seen in the past. Klein is a poor mans Kuechly (at least that is what he has been billed as) an we spent a fifth rounder on him plus he has showed good things so far in OTA's & rookie Mini camp so he stays. As for Blackburn he is veteran leader an Super Bowl winner we need him the most to lead on the field an in the locker room easily a lock plus we gave him a two year deal rare for our front office to do this offseason. Really the only way any of these guys make the team is if Beason or T. Davis or others are lost to season ending injuries or one of them shows enough to land on the PS squad. So in the end does Rau, Jacobs, Hogue, J. Williams have what it takes to make the final 53 very doubtful; however the PS squad ? Maybe one an I don't believe J. Williams is eligible any longer correct me below if I am mistaken ??? Poll and Rau's highlights from 2011 at Portland State are below. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe-QcafSbXg> Wait, What, Hun ??? We add another Browns LB for training camp? Well another training camp body is added to the roster. Rau 6-1 235lb LB out of Portland State U has bounced around from the Eagles to the Browns an now for some reason we put in a claim on him. Rau appeared in four games with the Eagles in 2012 collecting 3.0 tackles, 2.0 solo, 1.0 assisted. Rau is a hardworker but it is doubtful he makes the final 53 man roster. Given the fact that we have C.Blackburn, J. Senn, J. Williams, AJ Klein, Doug Hogue, an lastly recently signed Rau+Ben Jacobs also formerly of the Browns we now have a lot of LB's for training camp. I have no idea why we put in a claim on this kid seems like a hardworker similar to T. Williams who we had in camp a couple of seasons ago an still got cut; maybe Rivera just wants to take as many players away from CHUD as possible, LOL ? If we can stay healthy J. Beason/L. Kuechly/T. Davis are our penciled in starters for week one against the Seahawks with C. Blackburn, AJ Klein & J. Senn as our backup's for all three LB spots. C. Blackburn, AJ Klein, J. Senn are all locks at this point in my book b.c. Senn is an effective ST leader/"C" and can start when asked and be pretty effective as we have seen in the past. Klein is a poor mans Kuechly (at least that is what he has been billed as) an we spent a fifth rounder on him plus he has showed good things so far in OTA's & rookie Mini camp so he stays. As for Blackburn he is veteran leader an Super Bowl winner we need him the most to lead on the field an in the locker room easily a lock plus we gave him a two year deal rare for our front office to do this offseason. Really the only way any of these guys make the team is if Beason or T. Davis or others are lost to season endi

Wednesday is almost over. Come spend the rest of the night with your fellow AP members in our open thread. Here is tonight's conversation starter from reddit.com/r/nfl: Would you rather have a quarterback that was consistently average, putting up an 80-85 passer rating every game? Or would you rather have a quarterback that was excellent for 8 games of the season, 95-110 passer rating, but awful for the other 8, 65-80 passer rating?

fter the Phil Emery's first two picks - Kyle Long and Jonathan Bostic - the pick that intrigues me most is Marquess Wilson. Declared a potential first-rounder at various points in his college career, he pulled a Chilo Rachal and walked away from his team in the middle of last season. His draft stock plummeted accordingly, but the Bears took a chance on Wilson with the team's final pick. I'll leave Wilson's off-the-field claims of abuse at the hands of head coach Mike Leach - claims that Wilson later recanted - for others to debate. Let's assume the kid learned from his mistake. What are Marquess Wilson's chances of sticking to the roster? Can he be a Brandon Marshall-esque draft steal, or is he destined to become another Dane Sanzenbacher and "drop" off the roster? At the start of Washington State's biggest game of the year - their chance to upset Pac-12 rival Oregon in Week 5 - Wilson looked more like a Sanzenbacher than a Marshall. Like many a Jerry Angelo WR pick, he started off the game with four straight drops, each of them a catchable ball: Facing double coverage in most of these plays, Wilson did do a good job of getting himself in position and attacking the ball. He just couldn't reel them in. After this very slow start, however, Wilson turned it on and ended up the lead receiver in the game. If and when the seventh-rounder takes the field, he's not going to be facing a press corner and a deep safety - that honor will go to Brandon Marshall. Wilson needs to fit the role of a #2/#3 WR in the West Coast Offense to earn a spot on the Bears roster, and for the rest of the game, he showed that he can fit the role quite nicely. Moving the Pile In a quick-passing offense like Marc Trestman's, it's up to the WRs to squeeze every yard possible out of the play. Wilson's no speedster - he runs a 4.51 40 - but what he lacks in speed he makes up for in strength. In this play, he ran a quick curl underneath the corner and made an easy four yard reception: With the first defender already having a hand on him, Wilson turned it upfield to get every extra inch he could. Ultimately, Wilson took three defenders for a three yard ride to finish the play. Against the softer coverages you would anticipate Wilson getting in the NFL, his ability to power through tackles like this could pay major dividends. When receivers can turn four yard catches into seven yard gains, the offense will be in many more comfortable, short-yardage second and third downs. Make Your Own Space If Wilson's going to be seeing single coverage, he's got to be able to get himself open. A lot of this work gets done through coaching, as many WCO routes are designed to force DBs to cover deep and then take the "free" yards underneath the coverage. It's up to the players, however, to sell the DBs on the deep route. On a play-action third down play like the one we'll look at next, the defenders have to think deep ball first - they can't get sucked in early and let a touchdown pass sail over their heads. Knowing this, Wilson perfectly sold the deep route and then cut it off to end up wide open. As the ball is snapped, you can see him go immediately into a full sprint, sending the Oregon defender across from him into an equally hasty retreat: The cornerback doesn't bite on the action in the backfield, but Wilson's moves in space proved to be just as deceptive. Having set up his defender to guard against the long ball with his hard sprint off the line, Wilson deftly cuts his route to the sideline. It's hard to do this sort of fake-out justice with stills, but YouTube's got me covered for video on this one. Wilson ends up following the yellow line to make playbook-perfect pivot on his five yard square out route, but his long strides and hip movement sold the DB on the go route shown in red. Wide open, Wilson reeled in the ball for the first down: Taking Advantage of the Deep Ball Short, quick passes are a great way to get fir

RT @NFL_ATL: Brian Urlacher tells the @TheEisenPodcast, "I'm just not quite the same player I used to be."

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The fourth-year pro has proven to be a valuable backup quarterback for San Francisco.