Lions think Calvin Johnson could top 2,000 receiving yards

AP

Lions receiver Calvin Johnson has 1,428 receiving yards this season, putting him on pace to break Jerry Rice’s single-season record of 1,848 yards, set in 1995. But the Lions are eyeing an even bigger number.

Detroit offensive coordinator Scott Linehan told the team’s website that it’s completely realistic that Johnson could become the first player in NFL history to reach 2,000 yards in a season.

“That receiving number . . . we’re not about individuals, we’re not trying to put a game plan around guys getting individual records, but certainly would love to see it,” Linehan said of Johnson reaching 2,000 yards. “Nobody better than Calvin to be able to have an opportunity to help our team win while he’s getting in position to maybe break history.”

Johnson needs 572 yards over the final four games of the season to get to 2,000, and that’s certainly not out of the question, considering that he has 661 yards in the Lions’ last four games. Johnson will probably get even more passes than usual thrown his way over the final four games of the season, not because the Lions are trying to get him the record but because they’re running out of options: The Lions’ second, third and fourth receivers are all done for the season, with Nate Burleson suffering a broken leg, Ryan Broyles suffering a torn ACL and Titus Young suffering from being a pain in the butt whom the coaching staff has decided to send home for the rest of the year.

Of course, that also means opposing defenses can focus even more on stopping Johnson. And when the offensive coordinator is openly talking about getting Johnson record-breaking numbers, that provides that much more motivation for the other team’s defense to stop it. But opposing defenses are already doing everything they can to stop Johnson, and in his last 16 games, he has 2,199 yards, including six 150-yard games. It’s entirely reasonable to think Johnson could average 150 yards a game for the next four games, which would put him over 2,000. With room to spare.

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Lost in Friday’s decision by former Lions receiver Titus Young to exercise his right to remain silent literally is the fact that the list of charges against him has expanded to 11.

When a guy gets charged with 12 crimes, does the judge add a 13th for free?

Per multiple reports, Young picked up a felony charge of residential burglary, a misdemeanor charge of resisting and obstructing an officer, and a misdemeanor charge of vandalism under $400.

Police apparently learned during the investigation of Young’s May 11 arrest that he had attempted to break into a second home, that he fought with police, and that he damaged a fence.

Young won’t be able to expand to his rap sheet, unless he finds a way to commit crimes while in custody.  A judge has increased his bail to $50,000, and Young’s family has declined to post bond.

Family members and friends have said Young has mental health issues.  Here’s hoping that someone finally will persuade him to seek and obtain the help he needs.

I was going to add “before it’s too late,” but I’ve got a feeling it already may be.

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Yep, Mario Williams shouldn’t have tangled with Tony Buzbee.

As we recently explained, the lawyer representing Erin Marzouki will unleash the time-honored “let’s see what we can f–k with next” approach while representing the former fiancée of the Bills defensive lineman.  According to David Barron of the Houston Chronicle, Buzbee is now f–king with Williams’ liberty by asking a Houston judge to refer the matter to prosecutors for a potential criminal investigation.

To support his claim that Williams’ lied, Buzbee has released a new round of text messages from Williams to Marzouki regarding the $785,000 diamond ring for which Williams has sued.

“‘Keep those material things.  It means nothing to me anymore,’” Williams allegedly said.  “‘I said keep it’” and “‘KEEP IT! Remember me by it.’”

Buzbee argues that the text messages sufficiently conflict with the allegations in Williams’ lawsuit to make the statements perjury.

“Despite his fame and wealth, this court should not allow Williams to misuse the court system, or to avoid the ramifications of his conduct,” Buzbee explained in a court filing.  “Williams is not above the law.  He undeniably lied under oath.”

The criminal justice system rarely becomes involved in disputes arising from civil litigation.  Lies routinely are told under oath as people either make a grab for cash or try to protect it.  Prosecutors typically can’t and/or won’t devote limited resources for fighting real crime to pissing matches between private parties.

Sometimes, however, the private controversy assumes a very public position.  Which means that, in a case like this, an opportunity arises to deter similar behavior in the future.

None of this means that prosecutors will indeed pursue charges against Williams.  But it’s just another example of how aggressively Buzbee will attempt to get Williams to drop the case and leave Buzbee’s client alone.

Reuters

One month ago tonight, Commissioner Roger Goodell repeatedly made the slow walk to the podium at Radio City Music Hall to announce each of 32 first-round draft picks.

Over the three-day period, 254 rookies were drafted.  As of Friday, 157 of them had signed their first NFL contracts.

The trend flows directly form the 2011 labor agreement, which has streamlined dramatically the process of doing rookie deals.  Apart from the question of whether offset language will be added to the fully-guaranteed compensation paid to the players taken at the top of the draft and certain marketing considerations that bogged down the Andrew Luck talks last year, there’s nothing to negotiate.

Still, there’s a potential downside.  As Alex Marvez of FOXSports.com pointed out last year, players who get money in May have more time to spend it.  The guys who sign their rookie contracts in late July launch straight into training camp and the preseason and the regular season and they don’t have the same opportunity to squander any of their cash.

That’s not a problem for most of the guys being picked high in the draft.  Only four of 32 first-round picks have agreed to terms, and only one in the top 10.  Many are watching the Dolphins and defensive end Dion Jordan at No. 3, given Miami’s refusal last year to drop offset language from quarterback Ryan Tannehill’s contract.

AP

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who from time to time has talked about the importance of the NFL returning to Los Angeles, thinks that folks in Buffalo shouldn’t worry about their favorite team making a permanent trip to California.

“The thing that Bills fans ought to know is there are a handful of other cities as well that look to Los Angeles and say, ‘Should the fact the NFL doesn’t have a team out there concern us?’” Jones recently told Tim Graham of the Buffalo News.

“I think that’s an obvious thing to think about, but if I were a Bills fan I would feel good about the recent negotiation and remodeling of the stadium.”

Still, the “recent negotiation” locks the Bills in to the stadium named for its 94-year-old owner for only seven years.  After that, the price for leaving becomes much more affordable.  Depending on who owns the team at the time, the Bills could be in play to leave.

Regardless, unless the NFL expands, some team will be ripped from its current city and stadium and sent to L.A., if/when the NFL returns there.  Currently, the list of potential teams to move is fairly short, and the Bills remain fairly close to the top.

Of course, there’s a chance that the L.A. market will remain open indefinitely, providing ongoing leverage for teams looking to improve their stadium situations in their current locations.

It’s worked for 18 years.  There’s no reason for the league to stop now.

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In 2006, the Rams spent a third-round draft pick on defensive tackle Claude Wroten even though he had been arrested for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute three months earlier. That turned out to be a mistake: Wroten was suspended four games for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy in 2007, then suspended for the entire season for another positive drug test in 2008. After that, his career was effectively over.

At least, it appeared to be over. Now Wroten is playing Arena Football for the Orlando Predators, and he says he is done with drugs and hoping for another chance in the NFL.

“NFL teams don’t have to worry about me,” Wroten told the Orlando Sentinel. “My ultimate goal is to make it back to the big show, back to the NFL. I feel I’m on the brink. I’m in the best shape of my life mentally, spiritually and physically.”

Wroten threw away most of his prime athletic years, but at age 29, there’s still a chance that he could convince some NFL team to give him one more chance. The NFL reinstated him in 2010, so he can play if he can find a team willing to sign him to a contract.

“I don’t look back at my life and say ‘shoulda, woulda, coulda,’” Wroten said. “I don’t live with regrets. My goal is to become a renaissance story and come back to the NFL. That’s my driving force.”

Playing well in Arena Football — and staying out of trouble — could be Wroten’s ticket to an NFL training camp.

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Publicly, the NFLPA has been mum on the manner in which the sports agency owned by Jay-Z recruited Jets quarterback Geno Smith.  Privately, the NFLPA will say just enough to spark action.

According to Albert Breer of NFL Network, the union plans to send a letter to agent Kim Miale, the certified agent who works for Jay-Z’s Roc Nation and who represents Smith.  The NFLPA wants to know whether and to what extent Jay-Z was involved in recruiting Smith to hire Miale.

Under a rule passed by the NFLPA in 2012, only NFLPA-certified agents may be involved in recruiting clients.  Thus, if Jay-Z engaged in any recruitment of Smith to hire Miale, Miale has a problem.

Complicating matters are comments from Smith’s advisor, John Thornton, to CBS and a photo of Jay-Z and a photo that appeared in social media of Smith with Jay-Z, before Smith hired Miale.

Said Thornton, who later claimed that he was misquoted:  ”It really all came down to who he was most comfortable with.  I was in those meetings and Jay-Z connected with him on many levels.”

In our view, information sought by the NFLPA could include the full list of Roc Nation employees who met with or talked to Smith, the circumstances and timeline surrounding Miale’s arrival at Roc Nation, whether Smith actually met Miale at any point before signing the Standard Representation Agreement, the number of times Smith and Miale communicated during the recruitment process, the number of times Miale communicated with Thornton and other Smith advisors, the number of times Smith and Jay-Z met and communicated during the recruitment process, and the number of times Jay-Z communicated with Thornton and other Smith advisors.

Phone records, emails, and other documents could be sought to confirm the things that potential witnesses may say, given the strong incentive to conceal any evidence of recruiting by Jay-Z.  Interviews could be conducted of Smith, Miale, Thornton, Jay-Z, and others with knowledge of the situation.

The biggest problem for the NFLPA could come from its lack of jurisdiction over Jay-Z.  While the union can take action against Miale, the NFLPA can do nothing to Jay-Z or anyone else who doesn’t fall under the union’s regulatory umbrella.  Indeed, the NFLPA lacks the power to compel Jay-Z or anyone else not certified by the NFLPA to cooperate.

Thus, the problem could repeat itself, with the NFLPA suspending Miale and Jay-Z then hiring another certified agent.  And so on.  While we’re not advocating this specific solution, the only way the NFLPA could end the cycle (if Jay-Z intends to be involved in recruiting clients and if he can’t or won’t obtain NFLPA certification) would be to issue a blanket statement that any agent who associates with Jay-Z automatically would be subject to discipline.

The union is a long way from that point.  But the decision to look into the Miale-Smith arrangement represents much more than some agents thought the NFLPA would do.  Those agents and plenty of others will be keenly interested in how the inquiry proceeds, the information it uncovers, and the manner in which the situation is resolved.

AP

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made quarterback Tony Romo one of the highest-paid players in NFL history this offseason, and he also said publicly that he wants to see Romo spend more time in the facility and get more involved in the offense. That raises a question: If there were any issues with Romo’s commitment, why give him that kind of contract?

But Jones says it’s not about questioning Romo’s commitment. Instead, Jones told Albert Breer on NFL Network that he simply meant that if he’s going to pay someone the kind of money he’s paying Romo, he wants to be certain that player is giving everything he can possibly give to the team.

“When you give somebody $100 million, you’d like to get every ounce of anything they can bring to the table to win a football game,” Jones said.

Jones said he believes Romo is a great offensive mind who can add a lot to game planning sessions.

“He’s outstanding on offensive concepts and he’s got a vantage point that very few people have,” Jones said of Romo. “So anything that he can bring from the concept to the field has got to make us a better football team. I think it will.”

Romo has led the Cowboys to an 8-8 record in two straight seasons, but Jones says that doesn’t mean Romo is mediocre.

“We’ve been disappointed the last two years,” Jones said. “Nobody more so than him. We’re going to take what we’ve got with Romo’s great experience, ability, decision making, all of those things and we’re going to try to win more ballgames.”

Romo will have to help the Cowboys win a lot more ballgames to justify that contract.

Reuters

From the “Who Doesn’t Belong and Whhhhhhyyyyyyy?” file, Pop Warner football will honor on Saturday night the Patriots, Patriots TE Aaron Hernandez, former Patriots TE Ben Coates, Redskins RB Alfred Morris, and Nancy Kerrigan.

The Bills’ new defense is designed to create confusion.  (Unlike the team’s recent defenses, the confusion ideally will be experienced by the members of the opposing offense.)

Dolphins OT Jonathan Martin is “excited” (calm down, Tebow) for the chance to play on the left side, and he has bulked up to help improve his performance.

When scouts went to Tennessee to watch wideouts Cordarrelle Patterson and Justin Hunter, they’d emerge curious about Jets WR Zach Rogers.

P Brian Moorman is more than a camp leg for the Steelers.

The Browns are shaking up their media relations department.

Ravens LB Elvis Dumervil already is emerging as a leader.

Here’s a look at whether Bengals CB Leon Hall is underrated.

Texans QB Matt Schaub says he’s his toughest critic.  (That makes me feel like less of a jerk.  Slightly.)

Titans WR Kendall Wright is determined to make more big plays in 2013.

Former Jaguars TE Pete Mitchell autographed a photo of himself being chased by Ray Lewis in creative fashion.

Colts G.M. Ryan Grigson will be honored next month by the National Football Foundation.

The Chiefs’ offensive linemen are learning fast, thanks to having not one but two position coaches, Andy Heck and Eugene Chung.

Here’s a look at possible surprises on the Broncos’ final 53-man roster.

Raiders LB Nick Roach said it’s obvious his teammates showed up for OTAs ready to work.

Former Chargers coach Sid Gillman is No. 18 on ESPN’s all-time list of coaches.

Redskins LT Trent Williams thinks the team’s offense doesn’t put QB Robert Griffin III at risk, because the plays on which he injured his knee weren’t “called runs.”

Cowboys DT Josh Brent has been placed on a new portable alcohol monitoring system that requires urine and breath testing at regular and random intervals.

It’s still too early to know who’ll win the starting quarterback job for the Eagles.

When the Giants recently welcomed the Manchester City Football Club to the Timex Performance Center, defender Micah Richards passed on the chance to catch balls from the JUGS machine; “I don’t trust my hands actually,” Richards said.

Vikings RB Adrian Peterson doesn’t believe in same-sex marriage, but he also doesn’t believe P Chris Kluwe’s support for it got him cut.

Lions S Ricardo Silva heard that people thought he was a little slow last season, so he has worked on getting faster.

LB Brian Urlacher says of the Bears organization:  “There’s one person I could really take or leave.”  (Bill Swerski?)

A Janesville, Wisconsin couple has won the truck previously owned by Packers QB Aaron Rodgers.  (It’s a Ford, which is fitting, since the Fords and Rodgers separately own the Lions.)

Panthers QB Cam Newton has a new clothing line at Belk, the store with the name that sounds like an interrupted burp.

Retired Buccaneers DB Rondé Barber has gotten the key to the city of Tampa.  (There’s only one condition:  He can’t loan it to Tiki.)

Saints coach Sean Payton apparently spent plenty of time working out during his one-season suspension.

A Georgia man is accused of trying to alter checks written by Falcons WR Julio Jones and Falcons CB Christopher Owens.

Rams WR Tavon Austin took a few handoffs during practice on Friday.

Seahawks WR Justin Veltung can perform a 56-inch standing box jump.

With the Cardinals drafting LB Alex Okafor, LB Sam Acho once again will help mentor Okafor.

Decensae White, a star basketball player at San Francisco State University and a former college roommate of 49ers WR Michael Crabtree, has been arrested on suspicion of murdering rapper Lil’ Phat, also known as Melvin Vernell III.  (And he’s where we emphasize that Decensae White, not Michael Crabtree, faces the murder charge.  Not Michael Crabtree.  Not Crabtree.  Not.  Crab.  Tree.)

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From the moment the Cowboys opted to install a 4-3, Cover 2-style defense, we began beating the drum (or, as the case may be, the dead horse) for the team to sign middle linebacker Brian Urlacher.  Apart from his lingering physical skills, his leadership and knowledge of the system would have dramatically assisted with the transition.

But just like 2009, when the Cowboys perplexingly passed on adding Ray Lewis, they never batted an eyelash at Urlacher.  And he recently has said that he wishes they had.

“If I could have picked a spot, it would have been Dallas,“ Urlacher said, via the Dallas Morning News. “[The Cowboys] run our defense. They took our [defensive] coordinator.  That would have been ideal.  But they have two really good young linebackers.”

Still, their young linebackers have no NFL experience in the 4-3 system.  Urlacher does, and he would have been a perfect option as the Cowboys make the change.

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Typically, players don’t participate in voluntary offseason practices only when the players choose not to do so.  In the case of Jets running back Mike Goodson, the recent decision to not volunteer was made involuntarily.

According to Seth Walder of the New York Daily News, both the Jets and the league held Goodson out of OTA sessions this week after his May 17 arrest on weapons and drug charges.  Goodson hopes to resolve the issue and return to practice next week.

Goodson could force the issue if he wants, filing a grievance via the NFLPA.  Teams can’t keep players from practicing unless they are suspended or cut.  In Goodson’s case, however, pushing for the team and/or the league to let him practice could prompt the team and/or the league to shrug.  And then to suspend him.

Goodson’s primary defense is that the gun found in the car in which he was riding wasn’t his.

Which, to the older folks in the crowd (like me), also is known as the Greg Brady defense.

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Maybe he’s just sucking up to his new quarterback.  Or maybe he genuinely believes it.

Either way, new Ravens defensive lineman Chris Canty would take quarterback Joe Flacco over Eli Manning.

“He won a Super Bowl and he’s one of the best deep-ball passers in the NFL,” Canty said during an in-studio Friday visit to Pro Football Talk on NBCSN.  “Take a look at the tape.”

While Canty credits Eli for being “good in clutch situations when you’ve got to have that fourth-quarter drive,” Canty believes more in Flacco.

“He throws a beautiful deep ball, he throws it only where the receivers can get their hands on it,” Canty said.  “You’re talking about in the vertical passing game and they’ve got some vertical pass threats.  They got Torry Smith.  They’ve got [Dennis] Pitta.  They’ve got [Ed] Dickson.  They’ve got some good weapons for him to use down the field.”

It also was fitting that, with Canty choosing a current teammate over a former teammate as the better quarterback, Canty also picked another former teammate as his favorite quarterback to sack.  “I’m on Tony Romo more than the Dallas media,” Canty said.

For more of Canty’s foray into the national media, check out his full chat with Erik Kuselias below.

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Dr. James Andrews, the renowned surgeon who rebuilt Adrian Peterson’s knee before his MVP 2012 season, and who has said Robert Griffin III is making “superhuman” recovery from his own reconstructive knee surgery, would like everyone to understand something: Peterson and Griffin are the exception, not the rule.

Andrews told Newsday that a couple of high-profile players making great progress from torn ACLs should not be taken as a sign that a torn ACL is the kind of injury that players can always expect to shake off over the course of an offseason and come back as good as new.

“The last thing I’d want people to be thinking is people are coming back quicker and quicker,” Andrews said. “The few individuals that you know of who have come back quickly are what I call ‘superhuman’ athletes . . . There are only a few of those superhuman athletes out there. Their healing potential for some reason is much better than the average patient, but you can’t extrapolate their ability to come back from an injury to the average athlete.”

Andrews added that even the greatest of athletes can have a long and difficult rehabilitation process after a major knee surgery, and the next NFL superstar to blow out his knee won’t necessarily come back as strong as Peterson did, or as progress as quickly as Griffin seems to be.

“They’re all different,” Andrews said. “There’s still a big spectrum in how they heal and how they come back . . . It’s hard to predict recovery from an ACL surgery, and to say that we’re getting them back quicker than we used to would be false information from my standpoint.”

That’s an important reminder for fans, and for the players themselves: A player who pushes himself to come back on Peterson’s timetable is probably going to do more harm than good. Going from ACL to MVP will always be the exception, not the rule.

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Mike Ditka will be the 14th Chicago Bear to have his number retired. He will also be the last.

The Bears, who have retired the most numbers of any NFL team, have announced that they will no longer retire numbers after Ditka’s 89 is retired at a Soldier Field ceremony this season.

“If there is going to be a last one, there is no more appropriate one than 89,” Bears owner George McCaskey said in a statement.

That means great Bears like Dan Hampton, Mike Singletary, Richard Dent and Brian Urlacher won’t have their numbers retired, but Hampton told the Chicago Sun-Times that’s fine by him.

“It’s simple math,” Hampton said. “This is a franchise with so many great players. If everybody’s number got retired, it would diminish the honor in a way. I understand. The trap of it all is that if you played for the Bears, you’re one of many. If you played in Tampa, what is there, a handful of guys?”

It’s still possible, of course, that the Bears will change their minds and decide to honor some great player of the future. But for now, the plan in Chicago is to retire retiring numbers.

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Carson Palmer hasn’t been the Cardinals’ quarterback for long, but he already knows one thing: He loves playing for head coach Bruce Arians.

Palmer gushed about Arians to Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports, and he said he can already tell the rest of the team loves the new coach as well.

“I love the head coach,” Palmer said of Arians. “I mean, I love the head coach. He keeps it real. He already has this team wrapped around his finger. And we have some talented players in this locker room.”

Veterans like Palmer don’t often describe offseason workouts as enjoyable, but that’s the way Palmer feels in Arizona.

“When you like the coach and the guys in the locker room, and you know you can still play at a high level, and you feel like you can help take a team to a Super Bowl, and you know you’re job’s not gonna be as hard as it may have been before – it’s just fun,” Palmer said. “It’s been very fun since I’ve been here. And nobody thinks OTAs are fun.”

Nobody thinks Palmer has much of a chance to take the Cardinals to the Super Bowl, either. But Palmer thinks he and Arians are building something special together.

AP

In 2012, the Saints’ defense fell apart during a season marked by suspensions for the bounty program run by former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. In 2013, one Saints player says, they’re going back to that old Gregg Williams mentality.

Minus the bounties, of course.

Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins says new defensive coordinator Rob Ryan is a lot more like Williams than he was like last year’s defensive coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo. And Jenkins likes the toughness and aggressiveness that Ryan preaches.

“Personality-wise they are very similar,” Jenkins told the Associated Press. “They’re cut from the same cloth in that they know that players and matchups are what defense is all about and they have a lot of personality and they’re aggressive in their play-calling.”

Williams was an assistant to Rob’s dad, Buddy Ryan, and both Williams and Rob Ryan have said many times that Buddy Ryan’s influence was extremely important.

“They’re all from the same school, the Buddy Ryan defense, so there are a lot of similarities between what Gregg was running and what Rob is bringing,” Jenkins said. “But I think Rob has a few more wrinkles with the 3-4 and everything, and I think we’re going to have fun.”

Jenkins says the Saints under Ryan will have a defense that the rest of the league fears.

“There’s a line and you don’t cross it, but you want to get as close to that line as you can,” Jenkins said. “We definitely want to be a physical, feared defense.”

Williams did cross the line. But a physical, feared defense is just what the Saints want Ryan to bring.