Friday Walkthrough, Future Past Tense

An expansion of the regular season. Continued campus workouts for pro prospects. Michael Vick's looming, potentially expanding, legal troubles. Roll call at voluntary team workouts. Delineations on rules new and old designed to protect vulnerable players on the field.

Some topics discussed this week in the NFL. But not a lot actually done.

I've got my own reactions to an expansion to the regular season. In theory, I'm against it, given the increasing speed and power of the game and thereby the increasing wear and tear on players' bodies. And I would address expansion in detail if I felt it was truly going to happen.

But this one smells like a rat. With the coming negotiations over the CBA - and this purely conjecture on my part - the commissioner and the owners are positioning regular season expansion as leverage, a bargaining chip they can dispense, in the coming negotiations.

Consider that more regular season games would require an increased roster for each team which means an expanded payroll. Consider too the teams struggling to sell out stadiums for eight home games, like Jacksonville or Detroit, where there must be some resistance to expansion.

Instead, out of the owners meeting, Goodell painted a picture of unanimity on the issue of expansion. I'm skeptical.

Anyway, in the time-honored tradition of going light before the weekend, here's your Friday Walkthrough, links to can't miss reads of the week.


Speaking of the wear and tear of the game on players' bodies, a very good article about researchers determining some of the reasons why NFL players have a dramatically lower life expectancy than average US males. The numbers are staggering. Based on position, some players face a life expectancy over twenty years shorter than their non-football playing peers. Tie this in with recent research about the danger of repeated concussions and the picture of post-football aging for pros can be a pretty bleak one. (Dan Raley, Seattle Post-Intelligencer)


On the other end of the spectrum, Smart Football speculates on Tim Tebow's new quarterback coach, Scot Loeffler, and what he indicates for Florida's upcoming season and Tebow's pro potential. There's definitely some insight on why Tebow returned for a senior season when he already "has achieved all that is humanly possible in college." There's little doubting Tebow is one of the college game's greatest players. And, I get a lot of mileage out of the "projects as an NFL tight end" joke. But I think we're all curious whether Tebow will adapt to the NFL or the NFL will adapt to Tebow. (Chris, Smart Football)


Finally, here's the Football Outsiders mock draft. I've like what they've done here, mainly thinking about how different GM's and front offices tend to draft. This mock will be a good warm-up for my Know Your War Room series which attacks much the same ground but in greater detail. I don't agree with all of the Outsiders's assessments, but as always, they provide good food for thought. (Bill Barnwell, Football Outsiders)

On that note, have a great weekend everyone.