We’ve decided to step aside for a moment from the Roethlisberger/Vick/ESPN merry-go-round to focus on, you know, football.
It’s July 22. Camps open soon. And only two first-round picks have agreed to terms: Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford and Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez.
We’re not quite sure what’s going on, apart from the fact that many of the agents likely are hesistant to do a deal without a floor or a ceiling, courtesy of a deal someone else has done.
In the top five, negotiations likely are complicated by the fact that the first overall pick (Stafford) and the fifth selection (Sanchez) received quarterback premiums. So will No. 4 overall pick Aaron Curry, a linebacker, take less from the Seahawks than what Sanchez received a pick lower?
Then there’s Bengals tackle Andre Smith, who simply seems destined for a holdout.
Meanwhile, we’re in the process of compiling division-by-division lists of players who are signed and unsigned. We completed two of them (AFC East and AFC North) before getting sidetracked by a certain civil lawsuit in Nevada.