Not sure to what extent I believe this, but I’m going to pass it along. Anthony Gargano of 94 WIP in Philadelphia, says that radio host Mike Francessa is saying that Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie called San Diego Chargers owner Dean Spanos and told him that he won’t have access to Andy Reid.

Basically, get your hands off of my coach if you plan to fire A.J. Smith and head coach Norv Turner. Francessa is saying that that’s the reason that both Turner and Smith stayed.

So, you didn’t fire your head coach and GM because there was only one guy on planet Earth that you think is better? Anything is possible, but that doesn’t make a ton of sense.

But, anyway, Lurie just announced that Andy Reid will be back for next year, so all you people who can’t stand Reid, get ready for at least another season.

Remember former Arizona Cardinal, Miami Dolphin and San Diego Charger David Boston? He was a first-round pick out of Ohio State and a damn good player for several years. Some speculated that he was a juicer, which would dovetail with him being a beast who eventually couldn’t run a fly pattern without coming out of the game for a play.

Well, David has been busy lately. And when we say “busy,” we mean punching girls in the head.

That’s right, according to a Florida television station, Boston was arrested last night on charges of aggravated battery. He allegedly punched a woman twice in the head and the wound required 10 stitches. It’s not known if he got tired after two punches and had to take a break.

But anyway, he was with two women hanging out in the one woman’s home. Supposedly, they are “strictly friends” and Boston has been staying with her for about six weeks. He was supposed to leave soon to live in a hotel. It sounds like someone was very smart with his NFL money and invested it wisely.

So yeah, he punched this woman twice and then fled the scene when the girls said they would call the police on him. The cops eventually caught up with him and, yeah, here we are. The one woman was concerned when she saw him down a bottle of vodka, a bottle of wine and then shove some pills in his mouth. Look, OTR knows all about drinking, but even we are impressed/concerned with that.

At least it’s not another DUI arrest, David. Can always look at the bright side.

San Diego Chargers QB Philip Rivers is off to a very un-Philip Rivers-like begin to the 2011 season. The Chargers are atop the division 4-2, but something seems to be bothering Rivers as he’s missing throws that he usually makes.

So, of course everyone is trying to think of what could be wrong with him. He must be hurt, right?

Not according to Philip.

“Philip Rivers: “I’m as healthy as I’ve been through six weeks.” #Chargers,” tweets beat writer Michael Gehlken.

Even head coach Norv Turner said, “Philip’s completely healthy.”

Should we buy that? It’s not tough to fathom that he’s just not playing well right now. But his seven TD passes and nine interceptions just aren’t the kind of numbers that he usually puts up.

Maybe we’ll find out after the season what the real story is.

If you drafted Antonio Gates in your NFL fantasy draft this season, you’re probably regretting it. Sure, you knew he had the foot issues when you took him, but he kept saying he would play through the pain so you decided it was fine.

Well, it hasn’t been fine. He’s been sitting out for weeks while you started bums like Kevin Boss and Jeremy Shockey, hoping for a few lucky TD grabs.

We’ve got good news. Despite being held out of practice on Thursday, Gates practiced on Friday and is expected to start on Sunday.

He’s supposedly going to be utilized in red-zone packages, which is still a very good thing. Maybe he doesn’t rack up the yardage that he otherwise would, but if he grabs a touchdown or two, we won’t yell at him.

With all the injuries to their linebacking core last year, the San Diego Chargers had to rely on Antwan Applewhite for help. The restricted free agent had three sacks and two forced fumbles, and the Chargers were probably hoping to bring him back.

What they weren’t hoping for was for him to get arrested. But that’s just what happened this morning around 2:23 AM. He was pulled over and given a battery of alcohol tests. Apparently, he failed because he was arrested and booked at 4:09 AM.

Looks like someone had a little too much Cinco in his de Mayo.

His bail was set at $2,500 and his court date is scheduled for June 17th.

Well at least he didn’t sexually assault someone. But, San Diego Chargers WR Legedu Naanee did break the law, according to police in Indianapolis.

Naanee was arrested early this morning on charges of public intoxication and resisting arrest. Apparently, Naanee approached an active crime scene at 3:20 a.m. and was told by cops that he would have to turn around or go in a different direction.

Photo Caption: Legedu resists being blocked.

Police say that there was a “strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on or about his breath or person,” and he asked the officer why he was being “such an (expletive).”

Naanee was told several times to leave and when he wouldn’t, officers told him that he was under arrest and he “actively began to pull away.” The officer had to use pepper spray, but Naanee wouldn’t stop resisting. Why isn’t he this tough to pull down on a football field?

Eventually he was cuffed and put in the police car, where he said “Do you know who I am? I am an NFL player and I’m going to sue your ass.”

Awesome.

The Chargers sound thrilled too. They released a statement:

“We’re disappointed to hear about the issue involving Legedu. We’ll monitor the situation and let the legal process run its course.”

The statement also should have included, “Legeduuuuuuuu…..? Oh, Naanee. Yeah, I think we remember him. He got arrested? Oh well, he doesn’t play much anyway.”

Screwing fantasy football owners everywhere, San Diego Chargers TE Antonio Gates has been hurt pretty badly lately. He’s got serious foot issues and even for a gamer like him, he just hasn’t been able to play.

Gates recently had to acknowledge that he just might have to get shut down for the year at some point.

“This week it didn’t feel right,” said Gates, who didn’t even bother to test his foot this week. “I didn’t feel I would be able to contribute.”

Gates wants to play badly, but knows that there will be a decision to be made on his season soon.

“I’ve always been week to week, up and down,” Gates said. “Over time I’m going to have make a decision … Does it make it difficult for the coaches to put the proper gameplan together? I don’t know. I think that’s something we will definitely talk about this week.

“I’m going to take another look at it, see how I feel going into this Thursday night game. If not, I’m going to try to get an estimate how much time I need to get back healthy. If that’s two weeks, four weeks, that remains to be seen whether or not I should make some decision about finishing the season or continuing to try to fight through this injury.”

Head coach Norv Turner knows how important Gates is to the offense, but says that Randy McMichael is capable of contributing.

“That’s why we got Randy McMichael here; we just plug him into Gates’ role,” Turner said. “It’s not Gates, but it’s pretty good.”

If you are heading into your fantasy playoffs expecting anything out of Gates, you are probably going to be in bad shape.

There is a reason that the San Diego Chargers refused to give Shawn Merriman a new contract this past offseason. And there is a reason that they eventually put him on waivers. The truth is, the days of him being a menacing pass rusher are pretty much over.

And the team that claimed him off waivers, the Buffalo Bills, will now officially get nothing out of him. His sore achilles tendon just isn’t getting better and the Bills have placed him on injured reserve.

Merriman will now have to rehab and hope that another team takes a chance on him. He is a free agent now and it’s tough to imagine that anyone will give this guy any decent guaranteed money. He’ll likely be staring down the barrel of one-year, “prove it” deals.

Who knows if it’s because he’s no longer taking PED’s, but his performance on the field has been pretty much terrible since he got in trouble for it. Some 3-4 team will kick his tires most likely, but who knows if he even makes it out of training camp.

When we talk about tough guys in the NFL, Antonio Gates isn’t a name that immediately pops up. But it should. This guy never misses games and always plays through painful injuries.

This season, he’s been dealing with a bum toe on his left foot. It’s a very painful injury, but one that Gates keeps playing through. Now? He has a torn plantar fascia in his right foot. That is nothing to mess around with.

Between the two injuries, Gates is listed as doubtful this week against the Houston Texans. However, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune (perhaps the most important voice when it comes to the Chargers) thinks that Gates will indeed play this week.

“Antonio Gates walking pretty good as Chargers got ready to leave for walk-through. It’s a safe bet he plays. He’s never been stopped before,” Acee tweets.

He is expected to be a game-time decision in the absolute truest sense of the term, but he’s been a warrior in the past and I guess you have to give him every benefit of the doubt.

For fantasy owners, have a backup plan in place, but watch this situation closely up until game time.

We haven’t been providing tons of updates on this particular story, because the amount of nonsense flowing in every direction has been endless. He said, she said, whatever. The bottom line is that either Vincent Jackson will report to the San Diego Chargers before Week 8, or he won’t.

According to Mike Florio of PFT (via Gregg Rosenthal), it looks like he will. Jackson’s agent Neil Schwartz tells Florio that Jackson will report to the team in eight days, in enough time to be in before Week 8.

Jackson has to be with the team before Week 8 because he’s on the roster exempt list. This means that he will serve a three-game suspension, which will have him eligible by Week 11. If he wasn’t eligible by Week 11, he loses an accrued year of service and would be a restricted free agent next year as well.

This means that we’d likely be doing the same thing all over next season. And I just don’t have the stomach for it. If you can buy him on the cheap in your fantasy league, go for it.

Wow! This story took a strange turn. We just mentioned that Junior Seau was arrested for domestic violence early this morning. It turns out that after being released he drove his SUV off a cliff in Carlsbad, CA.

Seau survived the crash but did sustain injuries. Based on these pictures of the crash from TMZ we’re not surprised. He has been taken to the local hospital.

Update: Witnesses have told police the crash looked intentional, but Seau reportedly sustained only small cuts and bruises. He is currently at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla.

Update: Seau’s ex-wife claims the car crash was just an accident and that he would never hit his girlfriend.

We have a feeling there’s a whole lot more to this story…

Former NFL and USC football great Junior Seau was arrested early this morning in San Diego.

The incident allegedly occurred against his live-in girlfriend, but there is no word on her condition. Seau was booked into the Vista Detention Facility and released around 3:20 AM.

Photo Caption: The Junior Seau Foundation aims to “educate and empower young people through the support of child abuse prevention efforts.” But once you turn 18, all bets are off?

Seau was the fifth overall pick of the 1990 draft and played 13 years with the San Diego Chargers. He later played with the Dolphins and Patriots. He is a nine-time All-Pro and 12-time Pro Bowl selection as well as a member of the NFL 1990s All-Decade Team.

Seau announced his retirement (for the second time) in early 2010.

It is a very wild, wild week in the NFL this weekend and there is a lot to discuss. Why is it so wild? I have no clue. I just thought that if I said that, you’d just nod and agree without really thinking about the statement.

I know you’ve been waiting anxiously to find out who will win this week. So, instead of waiting for Sunday afternoon to see the actual scores, I’ll just tell you ahead of time. See how easy this is?

San Diego Chargers (-8.5) at St. Louis Rams

Many worried about the potential for a lot of interceptions and overall mix ups in this game due to the fact that both teams have blue and yellowish colors. Not to mention their helmet designs are similar. Will Sam Bradford be able to recognize the differences in uniforms and throw the ball to the right team? Only time will tell, but it’s a valid concern.

A bigger concern is one that we mentioned last week. Missouri politics are a mess right now, and the race for Senate is hotter than ever. In a Friday night debate with Democrat Robin “The Steel Carp” Carnahan, Republican candidate Roy Blunt showed where he got his name by lambasting Barack Obama’s stimulus plan.

“I thought the stimulus package was a huge mistake,” Blunt said. “It was a waste of money. But it had a huge effect on Secretary of State Carnahan’s brother’s wind farm.”

Uhhh ohhhhhhh! No he dii’n't! No he dii’n't!

Is this true? Did this really help the brother of Carnahan? Not only do I not know the answer to that question, the Rams offensive line doesn’t either. While some o-line’s struggle with consistency, the Rams front five is in the midst of a huge political debate. “Why would I help you double team Shaun Phillips when you would criticize Carnahan’s brother for creating jobs in Missouri?” type of thing.

Tempers are flaring in the St. Louis locker room over the Senatorial race and that means big pressure on Bradford. Pressure from the defense, pressure to win the game, and pressure to make the right choice on November 2nd.

Chargers 28, Rams 13

New Orleans Saints (-4) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Speaking of pressure, do you have any idea how steamy things will get if somehow you end up betting $500 on Tampa Bay because you like their helmets? I’ve seen it happen. Rerun’s cousin Ike may have been the first to attempt this, but it’s an epidemic that has gone on for too long. Here is the bottom line when gambling: If that $500 was set aside for you and your wife to go on vacation, then you can’t put it on the Buccaneers.

But that’s not really what we are talking about here, is it? Many websites don’t like to get hardcore when making picks, and we can understand why. It’s easy to look at tertiary things like running backs, quarterbacks, linebackers, and hell, even wide receivers sometimes. What’s more difficult is to look inside the locker room and really see what’s going on with a team.

And for the Bucs, they are playing with heavy hearts after seeing the local baseball team take a huge dump in the ALDS. Aqib Talib, for one, is sick of the endless bitchy status updates by Evan Longoria on Facebook. It’s not even that they are overt complaints about what happened in their loss to the Rangers in five games. It’s the cryptic kind that are just begging for someone to reach and be like “hey what happened.” It is beyond annoying when people do this. Here are a few:

-”Somedays it’s just…..wow.”

-”It’s complicated.”

-”Sighs the sigh of all sighs.”

-”Same old song, just a drop of water in an endless sea. All we do, crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see”

Talib was patient, but the “Dust in the Wind” lyrics really set him off. It got to the point where Talib almost unfriended him on Facebook. Talib hates a lot of things. Pushy cab drivers, quarterbacks who try to look him off, and people who copy and paste random song lyrics as their Facebook status.

The big question this week is whether or not he can let this all go and focus on shutting down Drew Brees and the Saints offense. The Saints are coming off an exciting loss to the Arizona Cardinals, so they are going to be tough to beat.

Saints 20, Bucs 21

Kansas City Chiefs at Houston Texans (-4.5)

Oooohhh, isn’t this juicy? The inconsistent Texans by 4.5? I’ve got a lot of things on my mind right now, and upset is one them. Remember we told you yesterday about stud-in-the-making Brandon Flowers from the Chiefs? He’s going to mix it up with the best wide receiver in football, Andre Johnson, who says he’ll play this week.

The Chiefs are much improved, even if their quarterback is about as talented as a kid that comes in eighth place in a 20-yard run at fat camp. I love their running game with the explosive Jamaal Charles, the youthfully exuberant and impish Dexter McCluster, and the cunningly succinct Thomas Jones.

The Texans just haven’t shown that they can dominate week in and week out in this league. In other leagues, yes they have. In the NFL? No. The Chiefs are going to win this one outright.

Chiefs, 24, Texans 17

Miami Dolphins at Green Bay Packers (-3)

How lucky are the Miami Dolphins this week? Not only do they have their away game at Green Bay at a time of year where they won’t completely freeze their fins off (get it?), they’ll also have their Friday and Saturday nights completely free should their son or daughter wish to go to the mall.

Doesn’t make sense? It should.

Starting this week, the Aventura Mall is requiring any teen under the age of 18 to be accompanied by a parent – or legal guardian (so if this happened when Adonal Foyle was under 18, one of those Colgate professors would qualify) – at all times after 9:30pm.

Photo Caption: It’s going to be a LOT tougher to snag something like this in a Miami-area mall after 9:30 PM now.

This is great if you are a mall goer wanting a calmer, safer place to go when you need to get a sex party game at Spencer’s Gifts. But not if you are a Dolphin player trying to prepare for a game, when you’ve got this little 11-year old bastard who has to go buy that special rock album and t-shirt he wants so damn much.

So, with a sense of relief, the Dolphins go out and cover the spread.

Dolphins 23, Packers 24

There is tons of Friday injury news in the NFL and rather than put out a bunch of different posts that you won’t read anyway, I figured I’d just put it all into one post that you won’t read. Here are some updates on who is hurt and what their status is.

-Minnesota Vikings QB Brett Favre is questionable with an elbow injury. Questionable our ass, he’ll play and you know it.

-Tampa Bay Buccaneers TE Kellen Winslow, Jr. sat out practice on Wednesday, but he’s listed as probable with a knee injury.

Photo Caption: “Ehhhhh! I’m down! I’m down!”

-Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers is probable for this week after suffering a concussion last week. He must be a faster healer than the guys that get concussions on the Philadelphia Eagles. He’s a good play this week against the Dolphins.

-Darren McFadden practiced for the Raiders on Friday and is expected to be a game-time decision with a bum hammy. Michael Bush is the guy to start there against the San Francisco 49ers.

-San Diego Chargers WR Legedu Naanee missed Friday’s practice with a sore hamstring and isn’t expected to play this week. Leave him in your lineup if you are already in sandbagging mode in keeper leagues.

-It doesn’t need to be said, but Kevin Kolb is starting this week for the Eagles. There were numerous reports about this all week, when people that know the team knew all along that he’d be the guy. Michael Vick could suit up, but his role isn’t known at this point.

-Jacoby Jones practiced on Friday despite his sore calf. He’ll most likely be playing this week.

And all this time we thought San Diego Chargers fans weren’t very passionate about their football team. Apparently, they are, and this kid is proof.

No, this isn’t on the level of the crying Giants fan that blew up on Tosh.0. He was a grown man who couldn’t keep it together a day after his No. 1-seeded Giants lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in the divisional round of the playoffs. That was bad.

Photo Caption: There is no connection between this photo and the content of this post.

This kid is only a little better because at least he’s a kid. And how about his mom taping her son’s meltdown and then posting it on YouTube? We thank her for that, but it’s odd that she would want to broadcast the fact that her son is a pussy.

But, we do understand that losing to the Oakland Raiders can be a trying experience, especially for a team with playoff aspirations. What are the odds that this video ended up on a classmate’s Facebook page? We think those odds are pretty good.

Since you aren’t going to go back and actually check, you’ll have to take my word for it when I tell you I am 100% spot on in my NFL picks this season. This week, I yet again will pick the games that JA and Perry were afraid to. They like to pick “low hanging fruit.” As in, games that are easy. They get nervous just thinking about making the tough picks, with the top teams in the NFL.

I, however, am not. So here we go, let’s look at the big-time games this week with big-time implications on a big-time playoff run. And just so you know, all betting odds come from our good friends (they have no idea who we are) at FootballLocks.com (when we first heard of the site, we thought it was about NFL hairstyles, but we were wrong). And just to be crystal clear, Perry is way too terrified to use a big-time site like FootballLocks.com. He cringes in horror as he logs on to VegasInsider.com.

Oh right, the games:

-Cincinnati Bengals (-3) at Cleveland Browns

Many insiders are giving the Browns a 70% chance of covering the spread this week. But, there is only a 10% chance of that. In terms of all-around crappiness, Carson Palmer’s passing is surpassed only by his offensive line. The Bengals were very successful last year running Cedric Benson all day and filling in with passes here and there. So what do they do? Go to a pass-first offense! Makes perfect sense! Go Bengals!

The Browns have been competitive this year as they’ve piled up three losses in a row. That’s impressive, because who wants to get blown out?

But, the Browns lucky streak of three close losses comes to an end this week. While the Bengals have just barely scraped by to a 2-1 start, they all seem to be miserable over there. They get it together this week and more than beat the spread.

Bengals 24, Browns 13

-Denver Broncos at Tennessee Titans (-6.5)

Which teams will show up this week? The Titans team that looked focused in whooping the Giants? Or the one that looked horrific against the Steelers?

Which Denver team will show up? The team that looked awful losing to Indianapolis? Or the team that looked awful losing to the Jaguars? You just never know.

The Titans are 0-3 against the spread this year and the Broncos are a perfect 3-0. But, that’s only if you believe the stats that I just made up right now off the top of my head. Which you probably shouldn’t. And that wouldn’t weigh into my decision anyway, so why would we bother?

We like the Titans to cover here because we heard that Al Del Greco will be making an emotional return to the stadium to watch the game in Joey Lawrence’s executive suite.

Titans 24, Broncos 13

-Seattle Seahawks (-1) at St. Louis Rams

Wow, that must be pretty insulting to Pete Carroll. One god damn point? That’s it? Someone must not be drinking the Seattle Kool Aid, and that someone is everyone. This is going to be a classic battle between two juggernauts in the NFC West. Whoever wins this division is going to have blood on their jerseys. This is just knock-down, drag-out football at it’s best.

Seattle will be playing with heavy hearts as they mourn the loss of Chester Pitts, who was cut this week. Many were excused from practice this week. Some players even considered putting a decal on their helmet; it got that bad. But the Seahawks players will turn that negative into a positive, by wearing “13th Man” t-shirts under their jerseys. You have the 11 guys on the field, the 12th man is their home crowd (which travels very well) and then the 13th Man is Pitts. How can you beat a team with 13 players?

You can’t. Seattle takes this one down.

Seahawks 21, Rams 13

-Arizona Cardinals at San Diego Chargers (-8.5)

8.5 have points? We’d think you have to take the over on that. Awfully low, isn’t it?

The Arizona Cardinals are so bad, that we fully expect Norman Fell to come out of nowhere and walk through a wide-open door and find himself out on the 30-yard line during play. He’ll make a weird face and mug to the camera when he sees the disaster going on.

“Hey, you can’t be doing this stuff up here, Jack,” he’ll say, even though Jack isn’t the QB. “Look at this mess, they have no idea how to score!”

Then Audra Lindley will come in and say, “you’d know all about that wouldn’t you, Stanley?”

And then the crowd would laugh hysterically. Then the game would continue after Fell and Lindley left the field. And the problems would continue as well, proving that the Arizona offense was all a big miscommunication and misunderstanding.

Chargers 38, Cardinals 13

Well, we guess that San Diego Chargers tackle Marcus McNeill had had enough of sitting out. According to his agent David Canter, McNeill has signed his one-year, $630,000 tender and will return to the team.

McNeill won’t be available to play until Week 6, however, because the team placed him on the roster exempt list.

This will immediately improve the Chargers when he returns. Philip Rivers will get better protection and he should help quite a bit in the run game as well.

The Chargers may or may not focus their attention now on getting lone holdout Vincent Jackson back into the fold.

As I’ve mentioned before, OTR’s predictions for sports events are different than other sites, because we’ve never ever been wrong. Whether it’s a mock draft or just a regular season game, we are always 100% spot on. How many can say that?

So, with that in mind, let’s take a look a couple of the Week 3 matchups in the NFL.

Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots (-14)

I think the real question here is whether or not the Pats get out to a fast start. If they come out and quickly get themselves a 10+ point lead, it will probably be over by the end of the first quarter. If the Bills are forced to play catchup, it will be an all-out circus. If this battle was about who could write the best business plan the fastest, then I’d take the Bills and Ryan Fitzpatrick in a heartbeat. But sadly for Buffalo, it’s not. It turns out, they’ll actually be playing football this week.

The Bills have the horses in the backfield to run the ball and I don’t love the Patriots defense. If they can ground and pound it, they’ll keep the ball out of Tom Brady’s hands and keep the game close. I am convinced that their running attack is so potent that they can control the clock and keep this one close into the fourth quarter.

Not a chance, Patriots rout them.

Verdict: Bills 10, Patriots 34

Cleveland Browns at Baltimore Ravens (-10.5)

Jake Delhomme or Seneca Wallace this week? You really think it matters, Eddie?

10.5 points is a lot to cover though. And I have to be honest, I’m not in love with the Ravens offense the way everyone else seems to be. Is Joe Flacco a stud? Or a decent QB that is asked to manage the offense? Is the real answer somewhere in between? There is a 40% chance of that?

I’m not a Flacco fan and the Ravens secondary is horrific. Still, the Browns aren’t equipped to take advantage of either.

Verdict: Browns 13, Ravens 24

Detroit Lions at Minnesota Vikings (-11)

The Vikings are giving Detroit 11 points? Really? I’m taking Detroit to cover the spread. Does anyone in Las Vegas have DirecTV? Have they seen the Vikings yet this year? Their offensive line is atrocious and Brett Favre couldn’t hit Kim Kardashian’s ass with 10 water balloons at a carnival.

Verdict: Lions 21, Vikings 24

San Diego Chargers (-5.5) at Seattle Seahawks

Well, Brent, the Chargers are only as good as their quarterback, Steve Tricosek. If anyone can find the video to that SNL sketch, I’ll write a post all about how great you are.

But anyway. I thought Seattle would be a decent team this year, but a lot of people think a lot of things about Seattle. San Diego had a hiccup in Week 1 against the Chiefs, but should still be fine to take out the Seahawks and cover the spread. Vincent Jackson should have a huge game against a weak Seattle secondary. And Marcus McNeil will keep Rivers’ blind side clean all day.

Verdict: Chargers 28, Seahawks 2

San Diego Chargers rookie RB Ryan Mathews is battling a high-ankle sprain and he hasn’t been able to do much this week. Earlier, there was an NFL Network report that Mathews would be unlikely to play against the Seattle Seahawks this week. Now, the San Diego Union-Tribune is confirming that report.

However, both NFL Network and the Union-Tribune stopped short of saying that he absolutely will not play. But, they were pretty clear that it most likely isn’t happening.

Mathews was asked how he’s doing.

“Getting better,” said Mathews. “It’s sore.”

Mathews has worked hard to overcome the “injury prone” label and absolutely wants to be out there. Whether or not it’s smart to rush out onto the field in Week 3 when you have a full slate of games in front of you is another story.

“There’s a difference between being injured and hurt,” Mathews said. “I can play in pain.”

Right. Doesn’t mean you should at this point. Expect Mike Tolbert to get more carries with Darren Sproles doing his thing as usual.

This just makes too much sense. The San Diego Chargers have traded a seventh-round pick to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for frustrated wide receiver Patrick Crayton.

The Chargers have been dealing with a thin WR core since Vincent Jackson has basically decided that he won’t play until he gets a new contract. So far, he seems pretty serious as he hasn’t reported to the team.

As for the Cowboys, they just don’t have room for Crayton and his $2 million salary. That’s way too much to pay for a fifth wide receiver. And Crayton wants to actually play, which he should have a chance to do in San Diego. He isn’t a superstar, but neither are Legedu Naanee, Buster Davis and Malcom Floyd.

It’s a win for the Chargers, a win for the Cowboys (who were just going to cut him most likely anyway) and a win for Crayton.

What a mess we have out here in San Diego, huh? Chargers’ WR Vincent Jackson (and their left tackle Marcus McNeil) have refused to sign their restricted free agent tenders and are demanding long-term deals.

Now, the team has placed them on the roster exempt list as of Friday night. This means that once they do sign their tenders (doesn’t look like that’s happening), they will be suspended for three games.

Awesome.

A source told the North County Times that the Chargers have given permission to the Seattle Seahawks to talk to Jackson and his agent about a long-term contract. Stunningly, they’ve only given Seattle permission. Why wouldn’t you open up the bidding to more teams and get better compensation? Is this a reward for taking Charlie Whitehurst off their hands?

But anyway, it seems that talks with Seattle have cooled off because Jackson wants money similar to what the Miami Dolphins gave Brandon Marshall. That would be a four-year, $46.5 million deal with $24 million in guarantees. Obviously, the Seahawks told him that you aren’t Brandon Marshall.

So now what? Everyone just sits and waits?

“As I said before, we’re not to going to talk about Vincent. We’ve all moved on,” Smith said. “If he decides to return to the team, then I’ll be happy to talk about him.”

Keep in mind that if Jackson did come back to the team, he’d have to miss the first six games. Between the three game suspension for being on the roster exempt list and the three game suspension for getting convicted of a second DUI……yeah, that’s six games.

Jackson is a nice receiver, but maybe Seattle is looking at all this and saying he’s just not worth the headaches.

The San Diego Chargers have had their public issues with player contracts this offseason. WR Vincent Jackson is not happy with his deal, nor is tackle Marcus McNeil.

But, the Chargers did make one player happy recently. Specifically, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reports that the team gave Antonio Gates an extension.

“Filed to Espn: Antonio Gates will be highest paid TE. Agrees 5 yr extenson @ 7.235 mill per yr. $20.4 mil giuarantees w Chargers,” Mort tweeted with poor grammar, spelling and punctuation.

We’ll operate under the assumption that Mort is correct here. He’s wrong an awful lot.

But that’s good news for Gates and the Chargers. He’ll be about 35-years old when his contract is up, so he could realistically play out the duration.

There is good news and bad news for San Diego Chargers WR Vincent Jackson. First of all, he didn’t get suspended by the NFL for four games like he had previously thought. The bad news is, he still got a three-game suspension.

Jackson has to pay up with the NFL because of his two DUI arrests. He can appeal the suspension and maybe get it reduced by a game, but that’s not sure certain. Jared Allen got a four-game suspension reduced to two games on an appeal a couple years ago, so who knows, maybe Jackson has a shot.

Interestingly enough, ESPN’s Adam Schefter says that regardless of whether he goes through with his holdout, his suspension starts Week 1.

Sources tell San Diego Chargers beat writer Kevin Acee that WR Vincent Jackson is available for trade, even if the team hasn’t publicly announced his availability. While nothing is imminent, GM A.J. Smith is apparently digging in his heels when it comes to the demands of Jackson and Marcus McNeill.

One source tells Acee that the Seattle Seahawks are very interested in acquiring Jackson. This makes sense because the Seahawks seem to be after any WR on the market. They were very interested in Brandon Marshall before his trade to the Miami Dolphins.

Another source says that the Washington Redskins are in play as well. The Redskins are pretty awful at wide receiver, so we aren’t shocked. Santana Moss is old and in the process of getting caught using HGH (we don’t know if this has a direct impact on their interest in Jackson, but it certainly could). 2008 second-round pick Malcolm Kelly has his heart in the right place, but he can’t separate and is hurt too often. Also a 2008 second-round pick, Devin Thomas seems to have a poor attitude, bad work ethic and a penchant for being bad at football.

Jackson is reportedly looking for a deal just north of the four-year, $47.5 million deal that Marshall signed with the Dolphins. As of right now, Jackson has not signed his RFA tender.

San Diego Chargers safety Kevin Ellison was arrested on Monday afternoon for rocking the party. Officially, he was pulled over for speeding in a school zone and a police search of his vehicle turned up 100 pills of Vicodin. We don’t know why there was probably cause for a search, but ok.

Vicodin is a controlled substance and Ellison didn’t have a prescription. Still, 100 pills would be a lot for a pharmacist to dole out. He was booked and released on $10,000 bail.

Ellison, 23, started nine games for the Chargers last year. Based on the drugs he was found with, those nine games must have hurt. A lot.

San Diego Chargers outside LB Shawne Merriman recently changed agents. Previously, he was represented by Tom Condon, who doesn’t have a very good working relationship with Chargers GM A.J. Smith. In an effort to get a new deal, he hired David Dunn.

And sources tell Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune that Dunn sat down with Smith and Chargers vice president Ed McGuire for about two hours on Thursday afternoon. While the meeting was described as “introductory,” it surely was aimed at getting a blockbuster deal for Merriman in San Diego.

“We had a meeting with David that was very productive and enlightening on a number of fronts,” Smith said. “Regarding Shawne, I told him we are open-minded regarding his situation. We have many other player situations to ponder in the year ahead.”

Merriman, like many restricted free agents, received a one-year tender. We think the Chargers would be fools to give this guy any kind of significant deal.

In 2006, he had a whopping 17 sacks. In 2007, he followed it up with another 12.5. But he missed pretty much all of 2008 and only had four sacks last year. Oh, and he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, which surely helped him dominate in years past.

Would you give this guy a box full of money? We wouldn’t.

Big news day in Seattle, huh? The Seattle Seahawks traded a second-round pick in 2010 and a third-round pick in 2011 to the San Diego Chargers in exchange for QB Charlie Whitehurst. The Seahawks then turned around and gave him $10 million over two years, according to Adam Schefter.

“Seahawks gave QB Charlie Whitehurst a two-year, $10 million contract — unprecedented for a veteran who never has started an NFL game,” he tweets.

That’s a lot of money for a guy who has never thrown a pass in the NFL. Pete Carroll and Co. must really love this kid. Some people are making a big deal about this because this is a guy that couldn’t beat out Billy Volek for the backup job in San Diego. Ummm….Billy Volek is an excellent backup and not some slouch.

We’ll see what happens with Matt Hasselbeck. He’s 35 and breaking down. We would have to think that he doesn’t have a ton of time to stumble out of the gates.

The Chicago Bears have released former All-Pro CB Nathan Vasher, according to Adam Schefter. Vasher, 29, was an All-Pro in 2005, but has been pretty much ineffective the last few years. Many league observers didn’t think Vasher would even make the team out of training camp anyway.

Vasher started 13 games in 2006, but has started just 11 games since. He was a stud when Ron Rivera was the defensive coordinator there and we aren’t sure if he’s a main reason why. But, Rivera is now down in San Diego and they could use a cornerback or two.

We expect the Chargers to at least kick his tires to see what he might have left.

On a conference call with reporters, new New York Jets RB LaDainian Tomlinson said that he’s fine playing a supporting role to second-year back Shonn Greene.

“Absolutely,” he said. “I have no ego. At this point, it’s all about having the opportunity to win a championship … The Jets made the AFC Championship Game without me. How can I come here and demand to be the starter? They were very good without me. I just want to be able to have a role on this team and contribute.”

But we hardly believe that he is getting some $5 million to ride the pine and chip in here and there. What most likely will happen is that LaDainian will be the third-down and short-yardage guy. In other words, Greene is about to have his fantasy testicles removed.

Even Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum said as much.

“We expect him to play a lot,” he said. “We expect him to touch the ball a lot.”

So, if you are in a keeper fantasy football league, try not spending every weekend at home with your parents, then think twice about keeping Shonn Greene.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, former San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson has selected the New York Jets over the Minnesota Vikings. Schefter says that he and the Jets have agreed on a two-year deal worth $5.2 million with another $500,000 in incentives.

LaDainian will join Shonn Greene in the backfield along with Leon Washington, who is coming off of a nasty broken leg. L.T. turns 31 in June and we’ll have to see how much he’s got left. One thing we do know is that the Jets offensive line should open up some holes.

So that leaves Minnesota trying to come up with a plan B for Adrian Peterson. Brian Westbrook maybe?