Saints do not plan to pay RB Thomas much

The New Orleans Saints running back Pierre Thomas was one of the key parts in Saints’ trio-RB scheme, but since becoming a restricted free agent earlier this offseason he has been asking for a salary raise and has not received anything other than a one-year, $1.7 million tender offer.

The No. 23 Saints jersey has not been seen in Saints’ practice facility for several days since the beginning of first minicamp. Comparing to Thomas’ positive attitude towards his contract at first offseason workouts, he is now far away from being happy and optimistic. He is not expecting a lucrative long-term deal like the one given to guard Jahri Evans, but he thinks he is at least worth a four-year, $11 million contract, which, however, on Saints’ side is too much for a backup running back.

Yeah, that’s the point. The Saints take Thomas as a backup running back, and the franchise has not tradition to pay much for a backup player. They know well that a backup player lacking starting experience could hardly find a new job of good pay with another team. And they are confident that Thomas will anyway return to the team, just like safety Darren Sharper. Even if Thomas is determined to leave, the team still has exclusive right on the restricted free agent and owns the right to negotiate any possible trade.

Man expelled from Harvard was accepted into Stanford

23-year-old man Adam Wheeler was found to be a genius cheater and he had been successfully got trusts from different famous universities. Unfortunately, it seemed that he did not have supports from family and finally was sent to jail and expelled by the whole outside world.

The Delaware man first applied to Harvard in last October. Incredibly, he made it and was enrolled. If not a professor rechecked his application for a scholarship, he could have stayed in the Ivy League school for even longer. What’s more incredible was that he was accepted by another famous university, the Stanford University shortly after he was expelled by Harvard. But before he was enrolled, he was arrested by police. And the Stanford recently announced that they evoked Wheeler’s admission.

According to court papers, Wheeler also used to apply for Yale and Brown but at last failed because one of his parents told a Yale official calling his home for information that the young man’s application was not truthful and he had been thrown out of Harvard. Brown did not accept his application at all. It seemed that Wheeler was addicted to attending top class universities but he chose the wrong way to apply for a roster room. But how did Harvard and Stanford read his application and even accepted him? Both universities refused to comment on that. Wheeler was so good at selling himself, and he should have been a good business man. With the method he sold himself to Harvard and Stanford, he could even make a Bradshaw jersey the best seller of all NFL products.

Saints RB Pierre Thomas sipped minicamp

The New Orleans Saints began the team’s first mandatory practices on this morning, but their leading running back Pierre Thomas was not seen, neither was two-time Pro Bowl left tackle Jammal Brown. Reports said that both skipped the minicamp for unhappiness with the slow negotiation on their new contracts.

According to Saints head coach Sean Payton, Brown was expected to be absent because he had been unavailable for the all the previous practices after having an offseason surgery, and Thomas’ absence was neither a surprise as he already skipped last weekend’s optional practices. Both of the absent players are restricted free agents yet to sign their tender offer while negotiating with the team on new contracts. Under such condition, the two won’t be fined for missing mandatory practices as they are not applied to any contract terms. However the head coach still hopes the two to wear back their Saints jerseys for offseason team practices as he does not think missing workouts is the best way to show unhappiness with contract.

To fans’ gladness, tight end Jeremy Shockey did appear for the minicamp. He suffered a seizure last weekend and was sent to hospital shortly afterwards. His absence from Friday’s practice caused a lot of doubts and now that he appeared for the mandatory practices, we could be assured that he has been really fine for the new season.

Michael Irvin does not expect Dez Bryant to get starting job

As a rookie of the Dallas Cowboys, Dez Bryant has received a lot of praises on his talents and future from various people, including former Cowboys “the playmaker” Michael Irvin. However, Irvin does not think the talents Bryant is having are enough to earn him a starting job in his rookie season.

Irvin had a great impression on Bryant since their first meeting in Cowboys rookie camp. Bryant was given the number 88, which was on the back of Michael Irvin jersey during the 1990s, and Irvin himself completely agreed with his former team on that move. The Pro Football Hall of Famer had several private conversations with the rookie receiver and had always said good words of him with belief that Bryant would be better than he was. However, Irvin thinks that Bryant still needs a lot of things to learn before he is able to handle starting role.

Irvin still insists that Bryant is one of the best rookies of this year’s draft picks, and he is impressed with Bryant’s humbleness as a former college star player. Even though Bryant is not going to get the starting job, Irvin is confident that his successor will have big impacts on the offense in 2010 season.

Vikings counterattacked on Saints safety’s trash talk

After Brett Favre had a surgery to repair his injured ankle last week, New Orleans Saints safety Darren Sharper made some trash talks on Favre’s ankle, saying that it would be the Saints’ attacking target again in 2010 season. Such comments surely made some Minnesota Vikings players uncomfortable and they volunteered to counterattack on Sharper using the same tool with him, the Twitter.

The first response was made by Vikings tight end Visanthe Shiancoe, who told reporters that Sharper also had surgery on his knee and the Vikings would also take it as attacking target. Sharper reacted soon, challenging Shiancoe to a bet in season opener on which team would make the first attack. While the tight end did not respond, his teammate, tackle Bryant McKinnie tweeted to Sharper that the Vikings offense would make Sharper regret for what he said now.

However, we should better not to take their disputes seriously, as Sharper, a former Vikings, had a friendly relationship with Shiancoe and McKinnie during the time he was wearing Minnesota Vikings jersey. Besides, although he left the Vikings before Favre arrived, he used to work with the quarterback for quite a long time in Green Bay Packers. Staying with the Packers from 1997 to 2005, Sharper had eight years spent with Favre, who spent 16 seasons with the Packers from 1992 to 2008.

Terry Bradshaw predicted Leftwich to replace Roethlisberger

As the Pittsburgh Steelers original starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will have to serve a six-game suspension for the beginning of 2010 season, the team will have to name a replacing starter to do Roethlisberger’s job during his absence. Among the several optional quarterbacks, seven-year veteran Byron Leftwich received support from a former Steelers starting quarterback, Terry Bradshaw.

Bradshaw recently made public comments on Roethlisberger’s troubled career and said that at the moment Leftwich was the only qualified quarterback to replace at starting spot. Third-year Dennis Dixon still needs some more time to prove his ability and longtime backup Charlie Batch never did good job while replacing Big Ben when the starter had to have a break. By comparison, Leftwich previously spent one season with the Steelers in 2008, so he is familiar with the team’s scheme; besides, he used to play as starting quarterback for other teams like the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

As a four-time Super Bowl champion leader, Bradshaw surely knows well what makes a good starting quarterback. Even if he is no longer playing for the Steelers in his No. 12 Terry Bradshaw jersey, he is still able to help the team with some good advices. And it seems that Steelers coach Mike Tomlin does like Bradshaw’s idea and has already had Leftwich handle most of the first-team snaps during workouts.

Saints signed former Bears FB McKie

According to latest reports, the New Orleans Saints finalized a contract with former Chicago Bears fullback Jason McKie over the weekend to add options in reserve full back behind starter Heath Evans. The addition is also expected to help the Saints improve their lowly ranked defense.

At age of 30, McKie has spent the last seven seasons with the Bears since ending his rookie season with the Dallas Cowboys in 2003. But he never played a key role in the Bears. Working hard to gain a promotion from practice squad to blocking specialist, McKie finished his tenure with the Bears after having totally 54 rushing yards and 364 receiving yards for six touchdowns. As the Bears had a new offensive coordinator Mike Martz this offseason, the team is unlikely to use a fullback much in 2010 season, and therefore McKie became expendable with decreased value, which caused the eight years veteran to be released in mid-March.

However, with a height of 5-11 and weight of 247 pounds, McKie could get significant playing time after putting on New Orleans Saints jersey, if he manages to win the backup job over veteran Zak Keasey and Marcus Mailei. As starting fullback Evans is coming back from a knee injury, his backup could get quite a few chances to play as replacing starter when Evans has to stay off the field for breaks.