This is a shame. You never like to see this happen to a player and one can’t imagine that he can come back yet again. According to Steve Reed of Carolina Growl, LB Thomas Davis is out yet again with a torn ACL in his right knee.

“Breaking News: Thomas Davis tweets that he has torn ACL in his right knee for a third straight year. He’s done for the year,” Reed tweets.

Davis was emerging as a really nice player until he rips his ACL in Week 9 of the 2009 season. Then, he tore it again last year. This is the third time since late 2009. That ain’t good.

Has he played his last snap in the NFL? It’s possible. As fans and media, we don’t realize the amount of effort and hard work is required to rehab an injury like this. Some guys go through it a few times and have to think about whether or not it’s worth it to go through it all again.

That’s probably what Davis is wrestling with as I type this.

Jon Beason is already down for the year with an Achilles injury, so that Carolina LB core is getting thin. Might be Omar Gaither time and that’s never a good time to see when you look at your watch.

The Oregonian newspaper, located in a quaint town just north of Little Rock, AK, is reporting that former Carolina Panthers QB Matt Moore has signed with the Miami Dolphins. A source tells the paper that it’s a two-year deal worth $5 million, that can be pushed to $7.5 with incentives.

So now, the pundits are saying that this takes the Dolphins out of the Kyle Orton race. Why? Matt Moore has played about four good games of NFL football. Why is he the answer? Orton isn’t Joe Montana, but he’s proven he can play well and win games consistently. This is like showing up to a NASCAR race, and when everyone asks you where your race car is, you point to your ’83 Buick Skylark and say, “no, I’m good, I brought this.”

You didn’t solve the problem.

They did the same exact thing in Seattle. “Oh, we don’t need Kevin Kolb, we solved our QB problem with Tarvaris Jackson!” No, you didn’t. Tarvaris Jackson stinks at football. The Vikings didn’t agonize over Brett Favre for two years because Jackson is a stud in the making.

So, enjoy Matt Moore, Miami. Orton might not be a Super Bowl quarterback, but he’ll give you a better chance to have a winning season than the combination of Moore and Chad Henne.

I don’t get it. Signing crappy quarterbacks does not solve your signal-caller problem. These same executives and coaches will be the ones with the stunned look on their faces on the sidelines and luxury boxes in Week 10 when they are getting their asses handed to them by the Jets 48-3.

Gee….we thought we had our guy in Matt Moore.

Man, there is a ton of NFL activity this week. Tough to keep up. We all know that Mike Martz can’t stand pass-catching TE’s, and now the Chicago Bears have proven it. According to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune, the Bears have sent Greg Olsen to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for an autographed Cam Newton 8×10.

“Just filed story: #Bears have traded Greg Olsen to #Panthers for player (not Steve Smith) & draft pick,” Biggs tweets.

The Bears actually got a pick and a player to be named later as Biggs points out. Olsen joins his fellow University of Miami alum Jeremy Shockey, who breaks down all the time and isn’t very good anymore.

Olsen could be headed for a big fantasy year. Young QB’s like Cam Newton like to have tight ends as safety valves.

A source tells PFT’s Mike Florio that the Carolina Panthers have agreed on a deal with defensive end Charles Johnson. The 25-year old DE got a six-year, $76 million contract with $32 million guaranteed. $30 million is in the form of a signing bonus.

Wow.

That is an absolutely huge deal for a guy who had 11.5 sacks last season. It was only his third year so they must be banking on him keeping it going and being a superstud for years to come.

Johnson was the most sought after defensive end on the market even though he didn’t really get to the market. Not sure I’d have paid that price tag anyway.

Last year, John Fox and the Carolina Panthers selected Jimmy Clausen with the No. 48-overall pick in the 2010 draft. Last year, Clausen went out on the field and proved that all the teams that passed on him were right. He was terrible.

So, this year, with a new regime in place down there, they took Auburn’s Cam Newton with the first-overall pick in this year’s draft. But there could be a bit of a jersey problem, and we aren’t talking about some Sopranos type of thing.

Newton wore No. 2 at Auburn, but guess what? Clausen has it for the Panthers. So, will he hand it over to him?

“It’s mine right now,” Clausen said. “We’ll see what happens.”

He was asked if he had set an asking price for the number if Newton wants it.

“We’ll see what happens,” he replied with a smile.

We have a solution. We think that Cam should say screw it, and take the No. 1 jersey because that’s where he was selected. Clausen can keep the No. 2 to remind him of his draft day free fall into the second round. With Matt Moore wearing No. 3, the jersey numbers would also accurately reflect the depth chart.

The news on Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett just keeps getting worse. We mentioned the other day that he admitted to recreational drug use at the Combine, now we hear about him thoroughly shirking responsibility. And we don’t use the word “shirk” lightly.

Mallett met with Carolina Panthers officials for dinner on April 8th, the day before he was supposed to have his official visit. And sources tell NFP that he was out all night on the town after their little tete a tete and called in sick the next day for his formal meeting. You have to be kidding.

Part of us thinks that he started weighing his options about whether he felt like going to the meeting. And he thought, ‘are they really going to take me No. 1? Eh….nope.’ And then decided to blow it off. We’ve all done that type of crap, just not on this level. It is, after all, his career we’re talking about. It was actually probably worse. He was probably laying in his hotel bed hungover and thought, ‘is there going to even be football next year? Eh….nope.’ And then decided to blow it off.

Here is where Mallett really blew it. No, the Panthers aren’t taking you No. 1 overall. Not happening. However, they do have the first pick in the second round and will absolutely need a QB if they don’t take Cam Newton first (they should take another QB anyway. Can never be too sure).

Regardless of all my guessing, it’s probably safe to say that one more team added Mallett to their “Do Not Draft” List.

Just as recently as a month or so ago, there were many people who had Clemson DE Da’Quan Bowers pegged to go No. 1 overall to the Carolina Panthers. But, it’s been a while since anyone has predicted that.

Bowers told NFL teams at the combine that his surgically repaired was fine and that he was 100%. But now there are real concerns about that knee after he didn’t workout at the combine or his March 10th Pro Day. NFL Network Analyst said that the rumors of him sliding down the draft board are very real.

“I’ve gotten an awful lot of phone calls from people around the league who think that there’s more there than what was reported initially,” Mayock said. “Every team shares information from the combine, and ultimately it will come out. But I think there was maybe a little bit more than met the eye at the combine.”

Bowers’ agent put out a statement saying that he’ll hold an individual workout on April 1st. Hopefully, it’s not a joke.

Jeremy Shockey was bounced from the roster of the New Orleans Saints a few weeks so that the team could avoid paying him $4.7 million this year. And apparently, the Carolina Panthers have an affinity for oft-injured tight ends who run their mouth too much, because they signed him to a one-year deal.

According to Pat Yasinskas of ESPN.com, it’s worth a maximum of $3,812,500, with $1 million guaranteed regardless of what happens. Another $812,500 is guaranteed to him if he he’s on the opening day roster.

Photo Caption: Shockey’s random re-enactments of “Karate Kid” were annoying enough, but coaches preferred it to his “Top Gun” soliloquies.

Shockey can still be productive, but we think this is a lot to pay for a guy who is, in all likelihood, past his prime. The biggest question will be how long he can stay healthy. Still, he might be a nice safety valve for whatever inexperienced quarterback they throw in there.

Remember the 2010 NFL Draft? Remember how so many people thought that Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen was a good bet to go to the Washington Redskins at No. 4 overall? Well, that didn’t happen, and he slid all the way down to No. 16…in the second round.

What makes matters worse for Clausen, is that he had an awful rookie year and now has a head coach, who had nothing to do with bringing him in. And Ron Rivera seems to be like the rest of us: Not sold on Clausen.

“There are absolutely no promises but the opportunity to compete,” Rivera told the Chicago Tribune.

How quickly things change. If someone grabbed Clausen earlier in the draft, he’d be paid much more and would have to be given about three or four more chances. Now? He’s just a guy with a year of bad football on tape and a new coach who has no allegiances to him.

Making matters worse is the impending lockout. Any time missed is time that Clausen doesn’t get to work with his new coaches and system to get ready for 2011.

“It’ll be tough,” Rivera told the Charlotte Observer. “Hopefully, we’ll get an opportunity to visit with him and continue to visit with him. And when that chance comes to get a feel for him and understand him and really look at him prior to the decision-making process.”

Clausen played in 13 games last year, completing 52.5% of his passes and totaling a 58.4 passer rating. He threw three touchdowns and nine INT’s.

We found out this weekend that Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid was not telling the truth when he said Sean McDermott would remain as the team’s defensive coordinator. He was booted a couple of days ago and was made the scapegoat for what really had to do with injuries and poor defensive talent.

But, the good news is that he was only out of a job for a little less than 48 hours. New Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera has brought McDermott in to be his defensive coordinator.

The two are very familiar with one another as they worked together in Philadelphia as part of the Jim Johnson coaching tree. McDermott has the title of “defensive coordinator,” but Rivera has already said that he’ll be running the defense.

This might be the perfect role for the young McDermott. To kind of be in charge of the whole defense, but not really. Could be a great position for him to learn and grow.

Shocking news from Michigan, Auburn QB Cam Newton has decided to forgo his final year of eligibility in school and will enter the NFL Draft, according to Jay G. Tate of the Montgomery Advertiser.

“Cam Newton has declared for the NFL Draft,” Tate tweets.

“This decision was difficult for me and my family,” Newton said. “I think it is best that I make that next step in my career and forgo my senior season and enter the NFL Draft. It was a very hard decision for me, especially after coming off the great season we had at Auburn. I’m blessed to have been around an excellent environment and have great teammates, coaches and support from the Auburn family.”

The move makes perfect sense. He’s proven that he can play at a high level and will probably be a top 10 or top five pick. Plus, if he stays in school, he has a very good chance of racking up more NCAA violations. Who knows what he’ll do next!

With Andrew Luck returning to Stanford, is there a chance Cam Newton goes first overall? It would certainly energize the Panthers’ fan base.

This is interesting and we think this could be a great move for everyone involved. John Elway announced on Twitter that former Carolina Panthers head coach John Fox will become the new coach of the Denver Broncos.

“Coach Fox is a great fit for us not only with his coaching ability but also with his personality,” Elway said. “He is a dynamic and proven leader who will energize our entire organization. John has coached great defenses, turned teams around and been to Super Bowls.”

The Broncos could use the defensive help, that’s for sure. They are a lousy, lousy defensive team and Fox has coached some great defenses. For several years with the Giants, great offensive minds like Andy Reid were his bitch. He’s a hell of a coach, but it was just time for them to make a change in Carolina.

And for Fox, it’s another chance at a head coaching gig. There no assurances that he would get another head coaching job at this time, and most assumed that he’d take over as someone’s defensive coordinator.

Another good thing for the Broncos is that Fox has experience. He’s not some 31-year old “hot shot” coordinator who behaves like he’s been there done that, just because he worked with Bill Belichick.

Kansas City lost to the Baltimore Ravens 30-7 in Sunday’s wild-card round, officially ending their season. Next up for the Chiefs is finding a replacement for Florida-bound Charlie Weis, and according to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, the Chiefs are “strongly considering” Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Mike McCoy

It’s not the first time McCoy’s name has been tossed around. Last week, Kent Babb of the Kansas City Star thought he’d be someone to keep in mind.

“One candidate who would make plenty of sense is Denver offensive coordinator Mike McCoy. He’s young, has experience, and possesses some of the skills the Chiefs not only want — but also need.”

McCoy joined the Broncos in 2009 as Josh McDaniels was hired as head coach, and eventually took over play-calling duties when McDaniels was fired.

PHOTO CAPTION: Mike McCoy shows quarterback Tom Brandstater the size of the stack he’ll ask for in Kansas City.

Prior to joining the Broncos, McCoy held several offensive positions with the Carolina Panthers including wide receivers coach and quarterbacks coach. He coached three different starting quarterbacks (Vinny Testaverde, Matt Moore, and Jake Delhomme) to at least one win in the same season.

Todd Haley is searching for his third offensive coordinator in just three years, and with McCoy’s contract with the Broncos finished, this could be a great fit.

The Carolina Panthers literally have no luck. They can’t catch a break and they certainly didn’t catch one with the news that Andrew Luck will stay at Stanford to finish his education.

“I am committed to earning my degree in architectural design from Stanford University and am on track to accomplish this at the completion of the spring quarter of 2012,” said Luck.

Hey Andrew, you can do that at any time. You can get that degree at any point during the rest of your life. You think the Panthers sitting at No. 1 overall are thinking, “yeah, he’s great and all, but what about that unfinished architectural design degree? Answer me that.”

JA already discussed this and made it clear why it would be so stupid for him not to come out. And it is.

Sam Bradford was completely lucky to go back for his final year at school and still be taken No. 1 overall. Luck was a sure bet to go to the Panthers, but now? Who knows. A lot can happen in a year. He should probably take out a lot of insurance on his body.

If Stanford QB Andrew Luck is as smart as we associate Stanford student athletes with being, he’ll make one more pass. He’ll pass up the opportunity to return for another season as QB of the Cardinal.

Yeah, yeah, yeah…he should go to school, get his degree and sit in a cubicle earning 50k a year. Nonsense! Luck has the perfect storm brewing right now and he would be silly not to throw caution to the wind. All 32 teams (I don’t care who their QB is) are drooling at the potential of this 6’4”, 235-lb. dude. He has the size, arm strength and apparent smarts of the NFL prototype. Just ask Ryan Leaf.

All joking aside… just ask Ryan Leaf! In 1998 the Chargers drafted this “prototypical QB” to a four-year contract worth $31.25 million, including a guaranteed $11.25 million singing bonus! It was at the time, the largest signing bonus ever paid to a rookie. Keep in mind, the guy started 21 games, threw 14 TDs along with 36 picks…in his career!

Whether he pans out in the NFL or not, NFL teams want Andrew Luck. If he wants to hit paydirt, he needs to enter the NFL now…prior to any rookie wage scale. Now, it is possible that a wage scale will be put into effect prior to the upcoming draft, but it is almost guaranteed that it will be present by 2012.

What does that mean for Luck? Consider this: Last year, Sam Bradford signed a six-year, $78 million contract with $50 million guaranteed. Need I repeat? $50 million guaranteed! As you’re sitting in your cubicle reading this…at your computer in your apartment…or perhaps you not even reading this yet. Maybe you’re driving your Ford Fiesta home right now debating if you can afford to get gas. But when you do finally read this… remember…$50 million guaranteed!

If Luck waits, the proposed wage scale would knock the top pick down to about $5 million guaranteed (estimated). Now… let me clear one thing up. I would give up a lot for $5 million bucks. The first of which would be my job. Secondly, it would be my apartment and 3rd would probably be my car. There is a lot you can do with 5 million and none of it includes working. But, 50 million guaranteed!?

Andrew Luck has what the scouts want and he also has the unique ability to cash in on the very future he has worked so hard to pursue. For one more draft, this opportunity will be available to him and not a draft, a round, a selection later. I understand and value “the piece of paper” from a university and realize the importance of graduating from college in our society.

“If you don’t graduate, you don’t get a good job. If you don’t get a good job, you won’t make the good money.” Unless you’re Andrew Luck. The end result of college and graduation is to get a good job and get PAID. Leave now and you can do all of that. Hell, if you’re really Ryan Leaf you can return to college in a few years in your Bentley and get that degree. Then you can frame it and place it on the mantle of your marble fireplace and stare at it while you’re playing video games and watching a guy shovel the snow out of your driveway. As they say, Luck has nothing to do with it. You chose your own destiny!

When we look around the NFL, it’s not hard to spot guys that just must be miserable. We don’t know for sure that they are, but they should be. We are talking about top talents that are on awful teams with no hope of going anywhere. Nnamdi Asomugha comes to mind in Oakland (yes, we know they are better this year).

One guy we look at quite a bit is Carolina Panthers WR Steve Smith. An undersized burner, his speed is a huge part of his game. So it would be easy to be frustrated, rotting away on a team that consistently has crappy QB’s that can’t get him the ball. Oh, and they lose all the time too, which is probably a hoot.

Some of his frustrations manifested themselves recently in comments about QB Jimmy Clausen, who hasn’t always been known as a leader.

“I’m the last guy to tell anybody to be apologizing, but if you’re going to apologize, you know, you should apologize to the people in the huddle with you,” Smith said via Steve Reed of CarolinaGrowl.com. “He ain’t at Notre Dame anymore, that’s for sure.”

Smith then ended the interview there, probably realizing that these comments wouldn’t be in any way constructive.

Clausen was later asked about Smith’s remarks.

“I didn’t hear Steve say that, so I can’t comment on something that he didn’t say to me,” Clausen said.

Smith has been known to be a bit of a d-bag himself. He’s punched teammates in the face before. Then there was the time that he told Dwayne Jarrett during an interview that Jarrett was doing, “Instead of talking to the media, why don’t you go watch some film?’’ Smith said. After Jarrett kept talking, Smith said in a serious tone, “Seriously.”

So it’s not like calling out teammates is something new for Steven.

Apparently, the Washington Redskins aren’t the only team to think that Devin Thomas can’t play in the NFL. According to Mike Cranston, the Carolina Panthers have released the former Michigan State wide receiver.

“#Panthers sign S Gerald Alexander and waive WR Devin Thomas,” he tweets with appropriate use of hashtags.

Thomas was active for just one game with the Panthers this year and didn’t catch a single pass. Look at the Panthers WR core and tell me that’s tough to crack into.

Thomas was taken in the second round of 2008….ahead of DeSean Jackson. Ouch.

The Carolina Panthers have placed running back DeAngelo Williams on season-ending injured reserve with a foot injury. He has a mid-foot sprain in his right foot and was only able to muster 361 yards this year in what can only be described as a lousy offense.

So now we have to wonder whether or not DeAngelo has played his final game for the Panthers. His five-year rookie deal that he signed in 2006 is about to expire, and so far there have been no contract talks.

Williams said in May that he’s not upset that they hadn’t approached him. And this is before he knew what a raft of crap Jimmy Clausen, Matt Moore and the rest of the offense would become.

“I’m in no shape, form or fashion upset with anybody because I haven’t gotten a new deal,” Williams. “I just know at the end of this fifth year, somebody’s got to make some decisions.”

GM Marty Hurney declined to talk about any specific player, but did say he’d like to keep the team as much intact as possible.

“We’ve said throughout we want to keep the core of this team together,” Hurney said.

We wouldn’t rule out blowing the whole thing up. What a mess.

There has been recent speculation (and for good reason) that the Carolina Panthers could trade speedy but best-years-are-behind-him Steve Smith before the trading deadline. Jimmy Clausen can’t make good use of him. And Matt Moore couldn’t either before he got concussed.

But, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that it ain’t happening. Sources tell Schefter that they will not trade Smith “under any circumstances.”

And that makes perfect sense. When you are 0-5 and look like a god damned high school team every week, you need to hold on to your play makers who get targeted three times a week and end up with a pair of catches for 32 yards. You can’t put a monetary value on that. Who needs future draft picks to build a competitive team when you can hope that Steve Smith can scrape together a touchdown in a 30-point loss? Not the Panthers, that’s who.

The source also told Schefter that DeAngelo Williams isn’t available via trade either. And that makes even more sense. Wins aren’t nearly as important as having two first-round draft picks in your backfield. In football, it’s just not important to build a defense or have a tremendous starting QB. You need those two first-round running backs or you’ll never get anywhere. Without them, you could end up 0-5 or something. Can’t have that.

Bravo to the Carolina Panthers. They may never be remembered for their Super Bowl titles, but everyone will remember their integrity for sticking to their guns.

The Carolina Panthers probably took the wrong USC wide receiver in the 2007 draft. In New York, Steve Smith has blossomed into a very nice player. The Panthers took the much higher profile Dwayne Jarrett back then, and have been rewarded with nothing but DWI arrests.

That’s right, Jarrett got another one. He was arrested at 2:08 AM Tuesday morning for driving while impaired, and was held on $2,000 bond. In June 2008, he plead guilty to driving while impaired. At least he’s getting into a rhythm?

Jarrett gave the Panthers three starts in four years. He has two catches for 40 yards this season.

He had requested a trade earlier this year and we have to think that multiple teams offered several first-round picks in return for this megastud. In his defense though, it is tough to crack a lineup when Brandon Lefell and David Gettis are on the roster.

We’re surprised it took this long for him to get cut.

As if the passing game of the Carolina Panthers couldn’t get any worse. First, they have Matt Moore in there to start the season. He was bad and then got a concussion. So, his backup is rookie Jimmy Clausen. He’s a rookie….and not that good.

So basically, their top WR (only WR), Steve Smith, has been left to twist in the wind as no one can seem to get the football into his hands.

Well, it’s going to be a lot tougher now. Smith had to leave Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints with what is now being called a high-ankle sprain, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

The Panthers are expected to re-evaluate the injury on Monday.

My girlfriend is not a sports fan. Despite relentless efforts to turn her, I’m pretty confident she would rather watch QVC, infomercials or play Call of Duty Modern Warfare. rather than spend time watching a good old athletic competition. Albeit, a girl who wants to play C.O.D. is reason enough to turn a girlfriend into a wife…I still lose sleep over the fact that I am failing in my efforts to secure a sports driven household!

However, to my surprise, the Philadelphia Flyers playoff run sparked something in her that I was not expecting. I was focusing on the Eagles and Phillies when low and behold something on the ice captivated her. Overnight she had become a fan of the orange and black! In fact, I even heard her watching a few games upstairs, on her own accord, when I was tucked away in the man room. In watching the games, she hand-picked her favorite: Michael Leighton. I had to tell her, “Babe, he’s a good goalie…but the defense is helping out here. What about Giroux or Richards?”

Nope… she had it in her head that she was a fan of man between the pipes. Leighton was her guy. No matter what I did or argument of reason I made, I couldn’t convince her otherwise. What is my point? She likes a guy with a bigger stick. That, and the fact that sometimes girls will like a team or a player for reasons unknown. Maybe they like the colors. Maybe she likes how his ass looks in tight pants. Maybe she likes the mascot? Typically, this is all irrelevant to the world of sports. But not today… not in Week 4 of the NFL. Dare I say, this is the week of the mascots!

Photo Caption: Will JA pick Week 5 games based on who’s kicker he thinks is better at online Call of Duty?

Panthers vs Saints
At first glance, this is a no brainer. A panther vs a Saint? The average length of an adult panther is equal or greater to that of an adult male. So unless this “saint” is rocking a mouth full of True Blood and finger nails that will make a coke head jealous, I just don’t know how it is a fair fight. After the panther takes a bite at the last supper, the only thing praying will do is help ensure he’s off to a better place. But wait, what about St. Francis of Assisi? He is the patron saint of animals! This good ole’ saint will have Mr. Panther lying at his feet and sharing little wafers while convincing him that “this really is the lord’s body.” Sure it is. And he’s just your altar boy. Too far?

Advantage Saints.

Bears vs Giants
We all know the damage a bear can do. If you don’t, go rent “The Great Outdoors” and try the Old 96’er while you’re at it. But seriously, what part of bear doesn’t say, “get the hell inside?” And for the record, I have yet to see a bear “hug” someone without taking half of his face with him. So the term “bear hug” is really misleading. But not as misleading as the Giants. Giants? Giant what? I need to know what it is that I’m going to battle against. Is it a giant scorpion? A giant centipede? (I hate those things!) What about a giant komodo dragon? That might scare me just a bit. But to simply say a giant leaves much to be desired. Like when you meet someone on the internet…then meet them in person and realize they really just posted a really…REALLY… misleading picture of themselves. What if it is a giant cotton ball? I’m pretty confident the bear will destroy, eat and defecate the cotton ball…then use the remainder to wipe his bald behind… again, go see The Great Outdoors.

Advantage Bears

Patriots vs Dolphins
This one is a tough one. On one hand you have American pride. The red, white and blue riding on horseback with lanterns and bag full of gun powder. “One if by land, two if by sea.” Well guess what New England… Miami is holding up two lanterns and I’m not so sure your muskets are accurate in the deep blue. Make no mistake about it, Dolphins are no joke. Sure, they’re fun to go swimming with and who doesn’t love Heinz Getwellvet in his relentless pursuit of Snowflake? The truth of the matter is that these bad boys are stone cold killers. Ask the great white shark who gets bullied by these aquatic athletes. Dolphins have been known to kill for reasons other than hunger. Maybe they’re just bored. Hell, I get bored after swimming for 10 minutes.

Advantage Dolphins

Redskins vs Eagles
Don’t know about you, but I’ve never gone into a fight saying, “this guy is pretty tough….do you see his tan?” Just because he has a darker pigment and a spear doesn’t mean he is a worthy opponent. C’mon Washington… give me something more. If you’re the Indians and least I can associate that with a good scalping. Who wants to deal with that? From what I hear, that’s something not even a good dose of Rogaine can replace. But you’re not…you’re simply, “The Redskins.” I’ll associate that with my uncle who stays out in the sun too long and maybe had one too many to drink. Maybe Jersey Shore has it wrong. GTL doesn’t stand for Gym Tan Laundry as much as it stands for Game Tan Lose. At least the Eagles have the ability to attack from the air. In addition, they have some serious talons. And they’re on the endangered species list…so while some will say “they obviously can’t be too dangerous if enough of them have been killed,” I say it makes them that much more unpredictable! You never see those big dudes flying around attacking…so we have no idea what they’re capable of. I would freak out if a humming bird started swooping down and going for my eyes…let alone this guy with 4” talons. You kiddin’ me?

Advantage Eagles

Our pals at TMZ are reporting that former Carolina Panthers LB Mark Fields had a little incident with the mother of his six-year old child outside of a daycare facility in Phoenix, AZ. And when we say “incident,” we mean that, according to police documents, Fields beat her, put her in a chokehold, threw her on the ground and then threatened to kill her.

While we don’t know for sure at this point, it would seem that the two don’t get along.

Fields’ ex-girlfriend claims that she was dropping off some court-ordered paperwork when Fields went bats**t insane. Fields told police that his ex tried to take his daughter from his arms.

Fields is charged with aggravated assault, endangerment, disorderly conduct, and interfering with an educational institution

Former Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen has signed a four-year deal with the Carolina Panthers today, according to ESPN‘s Adam Schefter. A league source tells PFT that his bonus is $2.533 million and the fourth year of his deal has an escalator of $2.85 million in 2013.

This is probably a very different contract than Clausen thought he’d be getting just four months ago. Many draftniks had him going No. 4-overall to the Washington Redskins. Yeah….um…that didn’t happen. Clausen slipped to the second round.

Clausen is expected to compete with incumbent Matt Moore, who played well down the stretch last year. All things being equal, they’ll probably start the year with Moore and then have Clausen ready if he falters.

This is getting interesting. The original story of Carolina Panthers’ WR Steve Smith was about him breaking his arm while playing flag football with kids. But a league source tells PFT that he was actually playing with a group of adults.

Smith’s agent, Derrick Fox, spoke to Florio by phone on Monday and admitted that he didn’t know whether it was a kids game or an adult game.

“I don’t know that,” Fox said.

So what’s the big deal? Well, according to PFT, paragraph 3 of the standard player contract forbids players playing other forms of football without prior consent.

It states:

“Without prior written consent of the Club, Player will not play football or engage in activities related to football otherwise than for Club or engage in any activity other than football which may involve a significant risk of personal injury.”

So, Florio asked Fox if Smith had gotten permission to play with adults.

“I don’t necessarily think that anybody asked for permission,” Fox said.

That’s bad. Because based on what PFT has learned, Smith’s football camp for kids ended on June 19th, and this injury actually occurred during the championships of an adult league on Sunday.

If that’s the case, the Panthers could be entitled to get some money out of Smith.

Carolina Panthers WR Steve Smith suffered a broken arm this past weekend while playing a flag football game. He had surgery on Sunday night and the Panthers say they don’t know when he will return to action, but that he certainly won’t be ready for training camp.

Panthers GM Marty Hurney says that Smith “feels terrible about it” and that his focus is on “getting back as quickly as he can.”

Smith’s agent Derrick Fox says that his client will be ready for Week 1.

“I’m not trying to play doctor, but I don’t think he’ll miss any games due to this injury,” Fox said. “He did this while trying to play with and help the kids.”

We’ll see what happens, but this is a setback for the Panthers. Matt Moore is entering his first season as the starting QB and could use all the reps he can get with Smith.

Carolina Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis has suffered another big injury. Today at OTA’s, he tore his ACL while backpedaling during a drill.

The injury is to his right knee, which he also shredded back in November. This doesn’t seem like a good trend.

But, at least he signed his one-year restricted free agent tender yesterday to the tune of $3.268 million. He would have really been screwed if he had gotten hurt while not having any kind of a contract.

He has already said that he’ll undergo surgery to repair the ligament soon.

Our buddy JA thinks this is hysterical and we like easy ways to add content, so this is a win-win. ESPN’s Adam Schefter tries to give a report about A.J. Feeley signing with the Carolina Panthers last year and he gets all choked up.

He continues to choke and choke and hack and spit.

This isn’t even new, we just wanted to post it. Funny stuff.

Brand-spanking new Chicago Bears defensive end Julius Peppers says he is very excited about joining a team with so much tradition. We’re sure that he’s uber pumped already looked up the history and is soaking up everything he can about the Decatur Staleys, George Halas and Brian Piccolo. In our view, tradition is much more important to him than the $42 million in guarantees he just got.

Hooray for Doug Plank?

“Getting to come to a place with the deep-rooted tradition in winning is a great thing for me. It’s a wonderful thing,” Peppers said Friday.

Photo Caption: Peppers says the mere thought of playing for the same team that Vince Evans once played for used to give him night sweats as he pondered free agency.

“It’s one thing to play football in this league and make a living, but it’s a totally different thing to come to a place with a great tradition and rich football culture like the Bears,” said Peppers. “That makes it a whole another experience, so I’m excited and looking forward to that.”

That Carolina Panthers, Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans would also have excellent tradition if they opened their wallets like the Bears did.

According to Jason La Canfora of NFL Network, if Julius Peppers doesn’t sign with the Chicago Bears, the New England Patriots will give the Philadelphia Eagles some competition for his services. The big rumor has been that if Peppers didn’t sign in Chicago, he was off to Philadelphia for his next visit.

“Pats and Eagles have offers on table for Julius Peppers as well as Bears,” he tweets.

Peppers has been complaining for a while that he wants to play OLB in a 3-4 scheme. The Bears and Eagles both play the 4-3, whereas the Patriots play the 3-4. All things being equal, that could be the deal breaker for the Bears and Eagles. Also, he probably would have the best chance to win it all in New England.

We just can’t help but feel like whoever the “winner” is in all this is going to be disappointed with their “prize.”