Cutler: Be Careful What You Whine For

Disgruntled Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler has made it known that he wants out of Denver. He'll get that wish.

Broncos owner Pat Bowlen declared today that, as a result of Cutler's refusal to answer calls from both Bowlen and new head coach Josh McDaniels, the Broncos will grant Cutler's wish for a trade.

Of course, for the immediate future, this just means that we'll be forced to listen to everyone's opinion on where Cutler will end up. So, we'll force you to listen to ours: Cutler for McNabb, straight up.

AFC South Franchise Grades

Just a quick summary of this recurring segment of the site for those who are visiting for the first time: these grades are a result of subjective scores in nine different categories (Uniforms, Geographic Area, Ownership, Current State of the Franchise, Prestige, Division, Franchise QB, General Management, and Bandwagon). If you have a GMail account, check out the GoogleDoc spreadsheet for many more comments about each team's score. The average score for all 32 franchises was a 64.6875.

Houston Texans: 68
Houston's lack of history and prestige handicapped their score somewhat, but acceptable grades in several areas (Ownership, Franchise QB, General Management) saved their score.

Indianapolis Colts: 84
The Colts' stellar showing in the Ownership, Franchise QB, and General Management categories contributed to their great score.

Jacksonville Jaguars: 66
The Jaguars scores were mediocre for almost every variable; their lowest score was a "2" (Geographic Area) and their highest was a "6" (General Management).

Tennessee Titans: 76
Tennessee had several solid scores across the board (Ownership, General Management) that lead to their score that's well above-average.

AFC North Franchise Grades

Baltimore Ravens: 80
The Ravens scored highly in several different areas, including General Management, Ownership, State of the Franchise, and Uniforms.

Cincinnati Bengals: 28
The Bengals turned in the second-lowest grade of all 32 franchises. Their Uniforms, Ownership, Geographic Area, Prestige, Division, and General Management all scored a pathetic "1".

Cleveland Browns: 42
The Browns' relatively low score is a result of their lack of Prestige, their ridiculously tough Division, and the unknown aspect of their General Management.

Pittsburgh Steelers: 92
The Steelers' tied the Patriots' grade with a perfect score in the Geographic Area, Ownership, State of the Franchise, Prestige, Franchise QB, and General Management catagories.

Remember, we strongly recommend you view the GoogleDoc spreadsheet version of these grades if you have a gmail account. There, you'll find more reasons that contributed to each team's grade than we can fit here on the site.

AFC East Franchise Grades

All scores are out of 100 and are accumulative (all nine categories combined). Keep in mind that these are not exactly like test scores where 70 is passing. Because of the "Bandwagon" dynamic, teams that are considered 'great' will be docked points in an attempt to level the playing field a bit. The average score of all 32 franchises was a 64.5625.

Buffalo Bills: 46
The Bills uniforms, geographic region, ownership, and general management all doomed their grade.

Miami Dolphins: 56
The fact that Miami is under brand new ownership (and the instability that comes with it) affected their grade. Bill Parcells' presence and their ability to attract Free Agents helped balance their grade somewhat.

New England Patriots: 92
The Patriots tied for the best score amongst the 32 NFL franchises and earned a perfect score on six of the nine elements of the ranking system.

New York Jets: 42
The Jets scored very lowly on most of our categories. The lack of talent at the quarterback position, ownership instability, and management issues contributed to such a low score.

Franchise Ranking Grades (Beta Version)

If you have a Google account, follow this link to the GoogleDoc version of our Franchise Ranking Grades spreadsheet.

We'll post each franchise grade later with maybe a one-liner attached to each team, but viewing the spreadsheet will allow you to view many more comments about what went into the decision-making process for each franchise.

Of course, there's a huge amount of subjectivity involved with this exercise. So feel free to disagree or change a team's score based on your own feelings; that's what this ranking system does: gets you to pit each team against each other in terms of likability.

Franchise Ranking Grades are Coming

In keeping with our promise of adding a few new features to the site in conjunction with its re-branding, we're going to be posting the newest one later today. Or tomorrow. Depends on when we can get the damn thing finished.

Our first new feature is a ranking system that allows you to rank each NFL Franchise based on nine different criteria: Uniforms, Geographic Area, Ownership, Current State of the Franchise, Prestige, Division, Franchise QB, General Management, and Bandwagon.

So if you are sickened by your current favorite team's moves so far in the offseason (or lack thereof, Packers fans), but don't know what team you want to replace them with, perhaps this scale with help you decide which team should be your new favorite.

Please Excuse our Mess

As we try to get everything moved over to FootballFreePress.com, please excuse us if there's any redirecting issues that occur.

We'll try to keep everything running as smooth as normal.

So everything should probably suck.

We're Moving to a New Place

In the not-too-distant future we'll be changing our name and domain. While we would love to stay with The Daily BOMB, moving forward, there are several things that make the move both necessary and beneficial.

We'll be changing our name to The Football Free Press. So stay around here or head on over to FootballFreePress.com. Either way, you'll still receive looks at the NFL in a way that no one else provides.

Thoughts on the New Lions Logo

By now you've seen the new Detroit Lions logo. If not, here:



We here at TDB are not in favor of the redesign, mostly because we've always been fond of Bubbles, the previous (and somewhat ambiguous) lion who has now been made edgier, more lion-esque, and all-around Arena Football-y. The Lions franchise hasn't had a lot going for it this century, but we always felt their logo was one of the few bright spots for their fans. Honolulu blue, however, was and is crap.

So, in response to the leaking of Detroit's remodeled logo, we're posting what we think they should change their logo to if management is set on change. We mostly scrapped the Honolulu blue in favor of Ford blue (which, for Detroit, seemed to make sense). We're big on history here at TDB, so we tried to come up with something that holds onto Detroit football heritage so as to not make a mockery of the Lions logo. Like say, going 0-16 would do. Anyway, here's what we came up with:

Cutler for McNabb Makes Sense

Many people are sending disgruntled Broncos QB around the league in prospective trades to various destinations that usually end with players like Brady Quinn or Trent Edwards heading back to Denver to fill Cutler's spot. However, we think that there's a much more interesting option for Denver to consider: Philadelphia. The Broncos should call the Eagles and offer Cutler for Donovan McNabb, straight up.

McNabb's relationship with team management for the past few years can be described as tenuous, at best. So it makes sense for the Eagles to make such a move if they get back a young, talented QB that they can both win now and move forward with. The Broncos, in return, get a QB that will be top-level productive for at least a few more years while head coach Josh McDaniels grooms his next QB of the future.

Peppers Doesn't Fit the Patriots' Mold

Patriots head coach Bill Bellichick has certain qualities he looks for in players: versatility, awareness, and selflessness. While he sometimes goes off script with a high-profile acquisition or two (Corey Dillon, Randy Moss), it's hard to see him bringing in Julius Peppers, a move that many media outlets seem to believe is only a matter of time.

While Peppers may be versatile (and that's a big "MAY"), he's certainly not selfless. By holding his team hostage this offseason, Peppers has proven himself to be anything BUT the type of player Bellichick usually looks for. Peppers would command a gigantic contract with a hefty long-term commitment from New England, who already has current players in line for extensions (Vince Wilfork, Logan Mankins, Stephen Gostkowski, etc.). Combine these snares with the fact that it's questionable whether or not Peppers could play his desired new position of OLB in a 3-4, and this move looks less and less likely to occur.

In fact, we'd be much less surprised if Peppers ended up in Dallas. Julius Peppers is a huge name and still young enough that Jerry Jones could argue that it was a football move, not a move to put butts in seats at his new, $1.3 billion stadium. Whether or not the Cowboys have the pieces (or picks) to make such a move is questionable. However, if we know anything, it's to never put anything past Jer-uh.

Minnesota, Don't Hold Your Breath for Cutler

With the Jay Cutler-Denver Broncos relationship falling apart like Matt Millen in a chess game (or a draft room), many have speculated that Cutler could end up in Minnesota by way of a trade. While it's true that the Vikings would greatly benefit from what many consider (present company not included) a bona-fide superstar at QB, don't look for this transaction to take place. One year ago the Vikings traded a fortune of draft picks for Jared Allen. If the Vikings send the Broncos a buttload of draft picks this year behind the thinking that they're "one player away", how many people would cry "Herschel Walker trade!" when they don't win the Super Bowl next year?

Keep two things in mind when pondering this trade (when you should be working):

1. Minnesota already traded for a QB this offseason: Sage Rosenfels. That might not instill a lot of fear into you Bears' fans out there, but there ya go.

2. Cutler has proven himself to be a major pain-in-the-butt far more undeniably than he has proved himself to be an effective NFL quarterback, and it would take moving some MAJOR draft pieces to acquire him.

While it's not a safe bet to assume that Jay Cutler will end up in Minnesota, don't discount Martin Mayhew and Shack Harris over in Detroit. Calvin Johnson, Ernie Sims and all of the Lions' draft picks for Cutler sounds like something they'll offer.

Martin Mayhew and Shack Harris Should be Fired

We have nothing personal against Lions GM Martin Mayhew or VP of Player Personnel James "Shack" Harris, nor do we have any vendettas against the city of Detroit or Ford (we even happen to drive one).

However, Mayhew and Harris should be fired. Now. This team is coming off the first 0-16 season in league history and the new regime's first move is to ship one of the league's bright young defensive lineman (and certainly a bright spot on the Lions' roster) and a 5th round draft pick to Seattle for 31 year-old linebacker whose career has always been based on speed?

Detroit Lions fans, if there are any left, plan on remaining in the cellar of professional football until a team is put in that knows how to evaluate talent and build a roster. These guys clearly do not.

Where Will Holt, Harrison Land?

There are two Hall of Fame wide receivers (albeit both past their prime) currently on the free agent market: Torry Holt, formerly of the Rams, and Marvin Harrison, formerly of the Colts.

While both may bring one or two more years of above-average production and leagues of wisdom and professionalism (at least ON the field, Marvin) to whichever club signs them, a team actually showing interest has yet to happen.

In Harrison's case, the thinking is that he expects too much money per year. Holt, who is freshly on the market, will suffer from St. Louis' decision to hold onto his rights until after the early, "spend-it-like-bailout-money" days of free agency.

The Individual Workouts are Flying Off the Shelves

Draft hopefuls across the nation are holding individual and team workouts in an effort to get noticed by a plethora of scouts and GM's representing the NFL's 32 franchises.

Every year at this time small-school players tend to grab some of the buzz that has up until now been reserved (for the most part) for the players from the major, mainstay football conferences and schools across the nation.

People are Overreacting to Andre Smith's Actions

All of the talking heads covering the draft are saying that Andre Smith has killed his draft value between his non-showing at the combine and his poor showing at his personal workout.

While Smith has definitely solidified himself as NOT the top tackle prospect in the draft, he certainly has not done enough to fall out of the top 13 picks in the first round. Tackles are a coveted commodity in the NFL and Smith was dominant as a left tackle in what is unquestionably the toughest football conference in the nation, the SEC.

It seems like every year people jump on the bandwagon of a workout warrior who had little production on the college level, and without a Vernon Gholston in the 2009 draft, it looks like people will settle for jumping off the bandwagon of a proven player who doesn't test or time well.

Look for Owens to Behave

It seems like everyone is saying one of two things when discussing the Buffalo Bills acquisition of enigmatic receiver Terrell Owens: either he'll tear the team apart and it was a terrible move, or his negative influence will be softened because his deal is only for one year.

We don't think either of these theories will prove correct. We think Owens will go to Buffalo and explode on the football field and be relatively quiet off of it. Owens will be paired with a legitimate weapon across the field from him (Lee Evans) for the first time since Owens played with Jerry Rice.

Owens, and equally as importantly, Drew Rosenhaus, realizes the potential windfall of money T.O. can position himself for by being a good teammate on the field and T.O.'s run-of-the-mill production for one year.

After receiving $6.5 million for one year of play in the NFL's frontier, Buffalo, look for Terrell Eldorado Owens to come back to of the league's bigger markets next year (in which, interestingly enough for T.O., is widely expected to be an uncapped year).

T.O., Eh?

Controversial team-wrecker Terrell Owens has a new home after he was finally released by the Dallas Cowboys.

And it's with one of the most conservative franchises in the NFL, the Buffalo Bills.

Somewhere, Marv Levy is saying "WTF?!"

Did Cutler Ask for a Trade Before the Cassel Deal?

There are rumors going around that Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler asked to be traded several weeks ago.

If true, Cutler must hate Josh McDaniels.

And Cutler must be a backstabbing bastard because he's acting betrayed by the Broncos because they met his request and listened to trade offers for Cutler.

Needless to say, this situation is not done, and it's a given that there's going to be some fireworks from Mile-High City in the coming days.