In an MCM interview from earlier this year Rennie Curran talked about his family's links to Liberia, which his parents fled two decades ago to escape a bloody civil war. Now, Curran is leading a group of around 50 family, friends and fellow NFL players back to Liberia. Curran has never stepped foot in the land where everyone else in his family was born, so he's excited to get to meet some of these folks he's only heard about or seen pictures of. This is a really cool story. Curran was on the radio on Tuesday, and I had no idea how many players of Liberian descent were in the NFL: guys like Tamba Hali, Visanthe Shiancoe, Ashton Youboty and more.
Now for something much more depressing: John Glennon breaksdown how former-Titans are helping teams in the playoffs, including WR Mike Williams and DE Raheem Brock (who had a career year with 9 sacks) in Seattle, CB Chris Carr and CB Cary Williams in Baltimore, TE Alge Crumpler in New England and TE Ben Hartstock and CB Marquice Cole in New York. I'll go ahead and say it: we would have been probably 2 wins better with Raheem Brock and LeGarrette Blount in 2010. Brock's pass rushing prowess could have bouyed a defensive line that was decimated with injuries, and Blount's ability to create yardage on his own might have provided some occasional rhythm for a boom-or-bust offense that went a month without hearing the beat.
In all of the talk about who the Titans could draft now that Andrew Luck is staying in school there's been one name left out: Missouri's Blaine Gabbert. Andrew Perloff at SI.com elevated him to no. 1 overall. Gabbert helped his stock by signing with super-agency CAA, which has represented 7 of the last 8 1st overall picks. I haven't watched a single snap of Missouri football, so he'll be one of the guys I have to catch-up on over the next few months. In that same mock draft we end up with a Missouri player, but it's DE Aldon Smith.
All that being said, I agree with Mike Mayock that Andrew Dalton may not go in the first two rounds, but he could end up being the best NFL QB of the group if he can get in the right situation. He's not going to blow it up in work-outs, but the interviews and character evaluations could be where he makes his money.
Bodog.com has betting odds on who will be playing QB for the Titans next year, and what role Vince Young will have in week 1 of next season.
The careers of Jay Cutler and Vince Young will be forever linked through the 2006 draft, and both careers have hit bumps in the road nobody saw coming. Still though, we really should have taken Cutler. He was a beast while Dinger was in Denver, and it's tough not imagine what Cutler could have done with the kind of defense and running game we had in 2008.
The New York Times' John Branch takes a look at clock management in the NFL with legendary flubs from recent history and comments from ex-coaches like Bill Cowher and Herm Edwards. Mike Lombardi's line about how Andy Reid, who he peggs as one of the all-time worst, should outsource his time management responsibilities to India is gold.
Titans Sized takes a look at who stays and who goes on the defensive line.
Former Titans OC Norm Chow could be moving on to the same spot at the University of Utah, the same state where he made his name at BYU.
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