Brandon Marshall, sociologist, on his QBs

AP

It’s obvious that Jason Campbell is not the same as Jay Cutler.

But Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall challenged people to look beyond the easy stereotypes when describing them.

“Jason’s black and Jay’s white,” Marshall began, via John Mullin of CSNChicago.com, before making his larger point.

“You know what, it’s the opposite,” Marshall said. “You would think Campbell would be like [Michael] Vick. But ‘J-Cut’ is like Vick, and Jason is more of a pocket guy, I would say. Cut likes to run around a little bit, so that’s a little opposite.

“But because of the picture we paint on black quarterbacks, it’s supposed to be a guy who runs around a lot, but Jason does a good job in the pocket, really reading coverage, really taking control of the offense.”

Marshall hits on a pet peeve, in that many people only compare quarterbacks to other quarterbacks whom they look like.

Cam Newton was much more like Ben Roethlisberger coming out of college than he was Vick, and Robert Griffin III wasn’t similar to Newton, other than having won Heisman Trophies.

With a little luck, one day everyone can be as open-minded in their comparisons as Marshall is, and we can stop attach the buzzwords like “athletic” and “cerebral” to one kind of player or another.

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Perhaps more than any position, quarterbacks are in the perception business.

As it stands, A.J. McCarron is generally perceived positively, despite the reality show that his soon-to-be-wife may or may not be working on.

Now we get a nugget that may or may not change the perception of McCarron.

According to Jim Wyatt of the Tennesseean, the Alabama quarterback missed a pre-draft visit with the Titans, telling them he was sick.

Now, maybe he had a cold, or ate some bad sushi. Maybe the Titans weren’t even really that interested in him, since they didn’t reschedule.

But not every quarterback gets the benefit of the doubt. A few years ago, there were reports of Ryan Mallett skipping a workout with the Panthers, which quickly took on a sinister tone, leading to predictable denials.

Florida State wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin went through a similar wringer after cutting short a workout this year.

But McCarron isn’t fighting the same kind of perception issues Mallett was dealing with prior to his draft, or the same kind that seemed to circulate around Benjamin.

Again, it could be completely innocent.

But teams and fans will often see exactly what they’re looking for when news like this comes up.

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The Giants got very little out of wide receiver Hakeem Nicks the last two years, which led the Giants to put forth very little effort to stop him from leaving as a free agent and offered a big reminder of how much better the Giants offense looks with an outside receiver drawing the attention of the defense.

One player who certainly agrees with that is Victor Cruz. Cruz burst to stardom while drawing a lot of single coverage out of the slot because Nicks was a bigger concern for opposing defenses, but saw his productivity dip in 2013 as defenses stopped worrying about Nicks and other Giants targets. On NFL Network Thursday, Cruz lobbied for the team to draft another receiver capable of putting up big numbers outside in the first round.

“A [big-play receiver] is something we need in this offense to be successful,” Cruz said. “An outside guy that can do the job and that can help fuel all the other receivers in the locker room and put some fire up under them to get them where they have to be.”

Cruz said Texas A&M’s Mike Evans fit the bill as the kind of receiver he’d like to see join him on the Giants offense and the Giants would probably be thrilled to see Evans still on the board when they are ready to make the 12th pick in the first round. That seems unlikely, though, and the Giants may not be able to grant Cruz’s wish for receiver help until later in the draft.

AP

The agent for South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney has previously said his client might do one short private workout for one team prior to the draft.

Now we have a report that one team is going to put Clowney through a short private workout.

According to Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com, the Falcons will go to Columbia, S.C. on Friday to put Clowney through “a few drills.”

Hmmmmmmm.

The Falcons, picking sixth, would never be able to get the player who would fill their most pressing need through ordinary means.

But they’ve shown in the past (Julio Jones) that they’re willing to make big deals to move up, and with 10 picks, they have the beginnings of the ammunition needed.

The underlying truth is that the Falcons might be more of a hot seat situation than many might believe. They finally broke through to win a playoff game following five years of consistent regular season success, but then the floor crashed from underneath them last year.

They’ve got their quarterback, and many of the key parts around him to have success for the foreseeable future. But if that success doesn’t come soon, they might see the need for changes to the current structure.

To win now, they might need one more impact piece, who’d come at a bargain rate (at least in dollars), even if they had to surrender future picks to get him.

Now might be the time for the Falcons to make a move, and Clowney might be the one player they think they need to deliver.

AP

Charles Siddoway, a former Mississippi State offensive lineman and prospect in this year’s NFL draft, has been arrested on a charge of residential burglary.

The Clarion-Ledger reports that Siddoway and current Mississippi State defensive lineman Jordan Washington were both arrested in connection with an incident that occurred Wednesday afternoon at an apartment in Starkville, Mississippi. Neither has yet posted $20,000 bail, and both of them were still in jail Thursday afternoon.

There is no further information about the details of the alleged burglary.

Siddoway is a talented player who started all 26 games at Mississippi State the last two seasons. He recently visited the Bills and has been viewed as likely to be selected on Day Three of the draft.

However, this incident is just the kind of thing that gets a marginal prospect removed from draft boards. Siddoway will have some explaining to do, if any teams are still interested enough to ask him to explain.

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The Eagles’ decision to part ways with DeSean Jackson put a little bit more pressure on wide receivers Riley Cooper and Jeremy Maclin in the 2014 season.

Jackson led the Eagles in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns last season, leaving a lot of production to replace on offense. It won’t all come down to those two players and the Eagles will likely draft a receiver, all of which leaves Maclin feeling confident that the team can still thrive with Jackson wearing a Redskins uniform.

“I think we’ll be fine, man. Obviously DeSean is one of the better playmakers in this league but we’re moving forward and I think we’ll be just fine,” Maclin said, via Tim McManus of PhillyMag.com. “I have faith in the offense and I have faith in the guys that we have in the locker room and on the football field. Chip said it himself: the offense is not built around one guy. We have multiple guys that go out there and make plays, so I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do this year.”

It will help if Maclin’s fully recovered from last year’s torn ACL and he says he feels that he’d be fully cleared if training camp started right now. He’s participating in all of the workouts right now and doesn’t plan on wearing a knee brace when he does get back on the field, which are both good signs for the Eagles offense as it moves forward without Jackson.

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In February, Lions General Manager Martin Mayhew said that he was “very confident” that cornerback Chris Houston would bounce back from a poor 2013 season.

Coach Jim Caldwell isn’t so sure. Caldwell said Thursday that Houston has a clean slate with the new coaching staff after a season that saw him deal with a toe injury and his father’s name coming up during former NFL wide receiver Sam Hurd’s drug trafficking trial, but pointed out that a rebound is far from certain after such a sharp drop in productivity.

“I’m not certain,” Caldwell said, via the Detroit Free Press. “You’re never 100 percent certain about anything. I can’t be certain if I’m going to wake up tomorrow morning. Tomorrow’s not promised to me, so I’m not certain. We’ll see. He’s a young man, and typically, they heal pretty quickly, unlike old guys like me. We anticipate that he’ll come along, but we’ll have to just wait and see.”

Caldwell said Houston’s toe problem is still affecting him and the uncertainty about Houston’s future could lead the Lions to look for help at corner during the draft. Oklahoma State’s Justin Gilbert visited on Thursday and could be a possibility with the 10th pick in the first round. That wouldn’t make a Houston rebound unnecessary, but it would give the team another option in the event Houston can’t recover his old form.

AP

The NFL will have its kickers try longer extra points in the first two weeks of the preseason.

However, the attempts will be shorter than first announced in March.

NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino said Thursday that the longer preseason extra points will be snapped from the 15-yard-line, not the 20-yard-line, Bob Glauber of Newsday reported.

According to Glauber, Blandino said the NFL’s Competition Committee suggested the change. Glauber also reported that some teams believed extra points snapped from the 20 would be exceedingly challenging.

In March, NFL owners tabled a proposal to move extra points to the 25-yard-line. However, the league did agree to try the extra points from the 20 in the preseason.

Now, the line of scrimmage has been moved five yards closer for those early-preseason extra points. For those looking for a serious, lasting shakeup to the staid extra point, today’s news is a downer.

AP

The case of Aldon Smith’s fake bomb threat is being passed around like a real hot potato.

First, LAX police gave the file to the LAPD Criminal Conspiracy Unit.  Now, the L.A. County district attorney’s office has punted the prosecution to the L.A. city attorney.

According to the Associated Press, the case has been sent from the county D.A. to the city D.A. for “misdemeanor consideration.”  That’s good news for Smith, who previously was facing a potential felony charge.

There’s a chance Smith ultimately faces no prosecution at all, if the powers-that-be decide he was making a really dumb joke.  But if they decide to deter non-celebrities from making similarly dumb jokes in an airport security line, they should consider pushing the issue.

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Mark Cuban may have been right.

It took me a while to type that.  I don’t want Mark Cuban to be right, for various reasons.  Including, you know, Mark Cuban.

But I’ve come to wonder whether Cuban may be on to something when he talks about the NFL getting too big for its own good.  Of the league getting so big that the audience becomes taken for granted.

Whatever the motivation — the given excuse was a scheduling conflict at Radio City Music Hall for an event that eventually was canceled due to lack of interest — the NFL’s decision to bump back the draft by two weeks has been as much of a dud as the NFL-sanctioned film Draft Day.  A palpable fatigue has emerged regarding the draft.  We sense it, and we (or at least I) currently have it.

While the league reportedly would like to space out the three major offseason tent poles (Scouting Combine, free agency, and draft) to March, April, and May, respectively, moving the draft to May while leaving the other two in place has created the worst thing any media-driven industry can have:  A lull.

No one likes the lull.  Also, agents don’t like the fact that teams have more times to ask players to engage in private workouts.  Teams don’t like having more time to evaluate and obsess and think and re-think.

As one G.M. said via text on Wednesday night, “Remind me again why the draft is not tomorrow? Is it so we can see another two weeks of mock drafts?”

We’ve yet to hear from anyone who likes the two-week delay, and the extended vacuum that it creates in the offseason.

By the time the draft begins, nearly two months will have passed since the start of free agency.  And while the schedule release provided a temporary oasis from the lagging of the offseason calendar, a feeling remains that too much time is elapsing between major offseason events.

Here’s hoping the NFL, in its admirable desire to always improve the product, recognizes and admits that the effort to improve the product by delaying the draft by two weeks hasn’t.  Here’s hoping that the NFL moves the draft back to what would have been tonight, keeping it there unless and until the other two major offseason events move deeper into the calendar as well.

AP

Will the Vikings draft a quarterback with the eighth overall pick in the NFL draft? That’s the big question as we examine the Vikings’ draft needs.

Three years ago, the Vikings used their first-round pick on a quarterback, Christian Ponder. Although Ponder remains on the roster, no one thinks he’s the franchise quarterback of the future. That raises the question of whether the Vikings will use this year’s first-round pick on a quarterback. If they do, Blake Bortles of Central Florida, Teddy Bridgewater of Louisville and Johnny Manziel of Texas A&M are all candidates.

But quarterback is far from the only need for a team that also has question marks at several other positions and is coming off a very disappointing 2013 season. The Vikings may be better off turning elsewhere at No. 8.

Tell us what you think the Vikings should do, and check out our look at the Vikings’ draft needs here.

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The Ravens have reportedly reached a deal with wide receiver LaQuan Williams, who played 23 regular season games for the club from 2011 through 2012.

Williams indicated he would be returning to Baltimore on his verified Twitter account. The Baltimore Sun and WNST-AM in Baltimore also reported Williams’ agreement with the Ravens. According to Aaron Wilson of the Sun, Williams will receive a one-year contract.

The 25-year-old Williams notched nine special teams tackles and caught four passes for 46 yards in his two seasons with the Ravens. The club waived him in September 2013. After his departure from Baltimore, Williams had a 10-day stint with the Patriots during the 2013 regular season.

A University of Maryland product, Williams seems likely to compete for the reserve wideout and special teams coverage roles he had in his previous stint in Baltimore.

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The Bears, who signed tailback Shaun Draughn on Wednesday, also took a look another veteran running back with kick-returning experience yesterday.

According to Howard Balzer of The Sports Xchange, the Bears tried out Darius Reynaud, who had stints with the Jets and Titans a season ago. Other media outlets have also reported Reynaud’s workout for Chicago.

The 29-year-old Reynaud has made his biggest impact as a kickoff and punt returner on the NFL level. The sixth-year pro from West Virginia has returned 104 kickoffs for 2,347 yards, and he has brought back 102 punts for 985 yards. He has three career return touchdowns: two on punts and one on a kickoff.

The Bears allowed Devin Hester to leave in free agency, leaving the club a little more unsettled at the returner positions than it’s been in some time. However, the Bears do have multiple players with return experience on the roster, with Draughn, Eric Weems and Josh Morgan among the potential candidates to return kicks.

AP

An expanded NFL playoff field is probably inevitable, even if it’s not imminent.

But don’t tell that to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

Goodell told Bob Glauber of Newsday that owners would discuss the proposal at their May 20 meeting in Atlanta, with a vote possible.

Of course, even the owners involved aren’t sure it can be fast-tracked for the 2014 season, with Giants president John Mara saying this week he wasn’t sure there was time to implement such a plan for the coming season.

Then there’s also the matter of getting the players to sign off.

Mara noted “my guess is that it’s going to pass at some point,” and that’s probably the right approach to take. Even if some believe the NFL risks oversaturation by fiddling with a good product, the move to 14 teams looks like something that’s happening, and the only real discussion is the when.

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Making an NFL schedule is complicated enough, but with the Vikings in someone else’s building, it added a layer to the proceedings.

According to Master Tesfatsion of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the league had to work around a number of requests from the University of Minnesota while the Vikings are using TCF Bank Stadium.

The agreement between the Vikings and the school said that the Vikings could only have one weeknight game when class was in session (which they avoided by playing their Thursday night game on the road).

They also have to work preseason games around move-in week in August, and finals in December. The Vikings play at Detroit while Minnesota students are studying for finals.

The Vikings and Gophers will only have one shared weekend of home games, when the University plays Northwestern on Oct. 11 and the Vikings host the Lions the next day.  (So much purple in Minneapolis that weekend, even Prince will be confused.)

Perhaps most importantly, they were able to avoid conflicts with the Minnesota State Fair (Aug. 21-Sept. 1).

For the sake of the enthusiasts of walleye-on-a-stick and rhubarb pie contests, we can all breathe a sigh of relief for that.

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Since the draft should be today but won’t be today because the NFL moved it to two weeks from today, we’ll spend today and the next 13 tomorrows wondering what will happen when draft day finally is today.

The guy about which everyone wonders the most is quarterback Johnny Manziel.  Though some continue to insist Manziel won’t be taken in round one, we’d be shocked if he’s on the board when Thursday night ends.

We won’t be shocked if Manziel hears his name called in the top 10.  The latest team to join the list of potential top-10 teams that could take Manziel is the Buccaneers.

Ed Werder of ESPN reports that the Buccaneers would “seriously consider” taking Manziel, if he’s on the board at No. 7.  The Bucs see Manziel as being “very unique,” having a “good arm and accuracy,” and generally being a “great athlete.”

That all may be true, but we can’t help but “seriously consider” whether the Bucs would like to see someone cut the line in front of the Buccaneers and take Manziel, pushing down the board a player the Bucs actually prefer.  There’s otherwise no reason to let it be known that the Bucs would take Manziel.

But since we’ve got two more weeks to go, get ready for more smokescreens and obfuscations (hey, watch your mouth) before the time comes to pick the players.