Wednesday, April 24, 2002

No time to slow down

With the draft in the past, NFL teams still are keeping busy

By Keith Schleiden, Managing editor

Not so fast, folks. The NFL just keeps on moving. No slowing down, now. Not even close.

This weekend, minicamps will be starting across the country. It will be the first time that NFL teams will get to see their new rookies and veterans on the field together. It will give a club’s personnel people and coaching staff a chance to figure out where the holes are on their rosters. Once that is determined, there tends to be a flurry of free-agent activity in early May.

Then comes the true second wave of free agency, which hits in the days after June 1. Like every year, there will be some big-name players who receive their walking papers around that time. Why? Because the team that is doing the cutting can put off some of the salary-cap charge from the released player until the 2003 season if the move is done after June 1.

Who are some of the players who could hit the open market in June? Well, it’s a very good bet that Packers WR Antonio Freeman will be a free man. It’s a virtual lock that Jaguars WR Keenan McCardell will be released. Chiefs WR Derrick Alexander also is expected to be a June cap casualty. Others who could come free are Jaguars LB Hardy Nickerson and Redskins DE Marco Coleman. There will be countless others, as well.

And then in late June and early July, the drafted rookies will begin to sign contracts. But then again, some of them won’t agree to terms on time, which means the dreaded holdout. Nothing gets me madder than the first-round pick who doesn’t sign on time and reports late for training camp. The process of negotiating a first-round contract is fairly simple, thanks to the slotting that takes place, depending on where a guy is drafted. You should get a little more than the guy picked after you, and a little less than the guy who was picked before you. How hard is that? But every year, there are a number of numbskulls who can’t figure out the process and hurt themselves and their teammates by staging a holdout.

But I digress.

Then training camps will begin to open in late July. That is followed by the start of the preseason, with Washington and San Francisco facing each other on Aug. 3 in the American Bowl in Japan. There will be 20 nationally televised preseason games this year, which should be just enough to whet your appetite for the real thing.

By about Week Three of the preseason, I’m usually foaming at the mouth for some meaningful games. This year, the wait will be just a little shorter than usual, thanks to the league’s great idea of starting the regular season on a Thursday night.

That’s right, instead of waiting until Sunday, Week One is going to be officially kicked off on Thursday, Sept. 5 with the Giants hosting the 49ers. All right, so maybe it’s not the most intriguing game on the schedule, but finally a game will be played that will count in the standings.

I can’t wait. But then again, there are plenty of NFL happenings to keep me occupied until the fall.

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2001 - 2002 Season