Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Broncos will pursue Freeney if Dumervil doesn't take a pay cut

The Indianapolis Colts decided to part ways with defensive end Dwight Freeney. He's now a free agent and will be exploring his options when free agency kicks in next Tuesday.

One team to keep an eye on for Freeney's services are the Denver Broncos. A source told Mike Klis of the Denver Post that the Broncos might be a player for Freeney. But that's all contingent if current Broncos defensive end, Elvis Dumervil, doesn't take a pay cut. Throw in the fact that Peyton Manning has been recruiting Freeney and it's almost a lock that he becomes a Bronco.

Freeney (33) is four years older than Dumervil (29) and isn't the force he once was but if Dumervil doesn't want to take a pay cut, the Broncos could sign Freeney and parlay the extra money into a few players to fill needs at different roster spots. They are similar players so the dropoff shouldn't be too significant.

The Broncos would love for Dumervil to return but I don't see him being too pleased to to a loss in pay. If that's the case Elvis will indeed leave the building.

Browns beat out Bills for Kevin Costner movie

Two of the more snakebit franchises in the NFL went head to head off the field recently. But for once it was the Cleveland Browns that came out on top.

The Browns reportedly beat out the Buffalo Bills for the right to be the franchise in the Kevin Costner movie, Draft Day.

The movie, which was to depict Kevin Costner as a fictitious Buffalo Bills general manager trying to restore his team to past glory, will instead be shot in Cleveland, with the actor portraying the Cleveland Browns GM.

Like most reasons for anything related to business decisions, it all came down to the money. Shooting in Cleveland was cheaper than shooting in Buffalo therefore the Browns will get the nod.

“At the end of the day, it was a money thing. I think Mr. [Ivan] Reitman really wanted to shoot here, but it just came down to the cost factor. What we were told is that the Cleveland incentives were better,” said Tim Clark who heads the Buffalo Niagara Film Commission .

“I feel the worse for the Buffalo Bills, because they worked real hard to convince the film company that Buffalo was the place to shoot this, and that Buffalo was America’s team.”

Buffalo Bills being America's team. Since when? I guess I missed the memo on that one.

This will be the second time a movie will be based on a Cleveland sports franchise as Draft Day hopes to be as successful as Major League. I guess the silver screen is the only place where a Cleveland franchise gets to be a winner.

Vince Young eyeing a comeback

Vince Young was once thought of to be the future of NFL quarterbacks. He was a Heisman Trophy finalist at the University of Texas, won a national championship, was the NFL rookie of the year with the Tennessee   Titans and appeared his career appeared to be trending upward.

Fast forward to now and Young is broke and out of football. After pouting  and playing his way out of Tennessee, he's bounced around to the Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills, not looking anything like the player scouts thought he would be coming out of Texas.

Young is looking for a job and is going to give it the old college try. Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated reported that Young is returning to Texas to finish his degree and work out at Texas' pro day in front of NFL scouts.

Young doesn't have many chances left if any. Young will have to perform out of his mind to impress the scouts and front office personnel that he's worth a roster spot. If he can do that he would also need to play the happy camper and realize that he's no longer starting material and barely second string material. And for the money that he thinks he's gonna get, no one will sign a third stringer for that price.

I would hope he makes it so he can at least get back on his feet financially, but the odds aren't in his favor.

Seahawks sign former basketball player

Seattle Seahawks head coach, Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider have never been afraid to take a gamble. Carroll did it when he named Russell Wilson his starting quarterback over Matt Flynn whom they gave a hefty contract to and Schneider cosigns some unconventional moves by the team.

With former basketball players turned tight ends, Jimmy Graham, Antonio Gates, and Tony Gonzalez having success in the NFL, Carroll and the Seahawks jumped on the hoops to gridiron bandwagon. The Seahawks have signed international basketball player Darren Fells to a three year deal. Fells is the brother of NFL tigh end Daniel Fells.

Darren, who is 6-7 and 280 pounds, went to visit the Seahawks on Tuesday and left with a contract. He planned to hold a pro day in hopes of impressing a NFL team. Apparently the Seahawks were impressed enough to make an offer.

Fells spent his last year playing for the Libertad Sunchales basketball team in Argentina. He's also played on the hard court in Finland, Belgium, Mexico, and France. He was an all-state tight end in high school at Fullerton High in Fullerton, Ca., but chose to stick to basketball at UC Irvine.

Fells will turn 27 in April so you don't know where his ceiling is as a player. But if he catches on it'll be another bold move that will payoff for the Seahawks.