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NFL News | March 14, 2010
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Tomlinson agrees to deal with Jets
By Jim Trotter
March 14, 2010
LaDainian Tomlinson reportedly had to choose between the Vikings and Jets
The Jets have a more secure QB status (Sanchez) than the Vikings (Brett Favre)
LT's familiarity with Brian Schottenheimer also played a role in the signing
Running back LaDainian Tomlinson rushed for 12 touchdowns and a career-low 730 yards with the Chargers last season.
Start spreading the news: Running back LaDainian Tomlinson is headed to New York after agreeing in principle to a two-year deal with the Jets.
Financial terms were not immediately available, but a league source said Tomlinson chose New York over Minnesota because of:
1. Scheme: New York runs the same offense that LT played under for nine seasons in San Diego, rushing for 12,490 yards and 138 touchdowns. He would have had to learn a new playbook and verbiage in Minnesota. The Jets also are committed to the running game; their 607 rushes last season were 82 more than any other team, and Tomlinson wanted to get back to a ground-oriented attack after San Diego transitioned to an aerial assault in 2007, when Norv Turner replaced Marty Schottenheimer as coach.
2. Staff: Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer -- Marty's son -- was the quarterbacks coach in San Diego for five of Tomlinson's first six seasons, including 2006 when Tomlinson won the first of two rushing titles and his only league MVP. Tomlinson's familiarity with the younger Schottenheimer was important from a comfort standpoint.
3. Personnel: Tominson said from the start that he wanted to play on a team that had an established quarterback, and the uncertainty over Brett Favre's future was a factor. Favre led the Vikings to the NFC Championship game in his first year with Minnesota, but he's mulling retirement and has been given no deadline for making a decision. If Favre calls it a career, the Vikings presumably would turn to Sage Rosenfels or Tarvaris Jackson, neither of whom has proven himself to be a capable fulltime starter.
The Jets are not getting the Tomlinson who broke or matched 28 Chargers records during his career. He turns 31 in June and is coming off a season in which he set career lows for carries (223), yards (730) and yards per carry (3.3). But Tomlinson believes his decline in production each of the past three seasons is largely a function of the change in emphasis, with Turner running the offense through QB Philip Rivers.
In New York, Tomlinson will back up and mentor Shonn Greene, a bruising second-year pro who came into his own late last season. Tomlinson is expected to spell him in passing situations and on third-down and help fill the void from Thomas Jones' release. Jones ran for 1,402 yards and 14 TDs last season, but the team released him because it didn't want to pay the nearly $6 million in salary and bonus that Jones was scheduled to earn this year. Jones has since signed with Kansas City.
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Browns trade QB Brady Quinn to Broncos
By Arnie Stapleton
March 14, 2010
Brady Quinn will get a chance to start over in Denver. Whether he’ll get to start is up in the air.
The Broncos acquired the former first-round draft pick from the Cleveland Browns for fullback Peyton Hillis, a 2011 sixth-round draft pick and a conditional pick in 2012.
The teams announced the trade Sunday and said the deal is pending physicals.
Ostensibly, Quinn will compete with Kyle Orton for the Broncos’ starting job, although coach Josh McDaniels was unavailable Sunday to comment on the trade, according to a team spokesman.
Quinn’s departure comes one day after the Browns agreed to terms with free agent Jake Delhomme on a two-year contract. Quinn went 3-9 in 12 starts for Cleveland, which drafted him with the 22nd pick in the first round in 2007 out of Notre Dame.
From Dublin, Ohio, he was embraced by Browns fans as the quarterback of the future. But it never panned out for the Browns or Quinn.
“I appreciate everything Brady did for us last year and in his three seasons with the Cleveland Browns,” coach Eric Mangini said in a statement. “He is professional in the way he goes about doing his job and worked extremely hard at every aspect of his game. I wish him the best of success in Denver.”
Quinn won Cleveland’s starting job last season, but was benched after 2 1/2 games for Derek Anderson. Quinn eventually got his job back when Anderson struggled but he was hindered by inaccuracy.
He completed only 53 percent of his passes last season for 1,339 yards with eight touchdowns and seven interceptions. His rating was 67.3.
Quinn’s days in Cleveland appeared numbered when new president Mike Holmgren failed to endorse him as the Browns’ future starter. Last week, the Browns acquired backup Seneca Wallace in a trade with Seattle, released Anderson and hosted Delhomme, recently cut by Carolina.
Holmgren’s house cleaning continued Sunday, when he shipped another former first-round draft pick, linebacker Kamerion Wimbley, to the Oakland Raiders for draft picks.
The Broncos reportedly pursued Quinn last season when they were trying to replace Jay Cutler.
Instead, they dealt Cutler to Chicago for a bevy of draft picks and Orton, who beat out Chris Simms for the starting job in June.
The Broncos have insisted they’re happy with Orton, a workmanlike leader who wasn’t allowed to throw downfield much last season, when he led the Broncos to a 6-2 start before a 2-6 finish kept them out of the playoffs for a fourth straight season.
That’s the longest drought in the 26 years Pat Bowlen has owned the team. Bowlen recently said he likes Orton as his quarterback but would like to see the Broncos draft a passer next month.
Those plans may now be on hold.
The Broncos lost confidence in Simms last season, so it would appear he’s out of the picture with the acquisition of Quinn.
Last week, the Broncos offered Orton, a restricted free agent, a first-round tender offer that would pay him $2.261 million this season.
Like hundreds of other players caught up in the league’s labor issues, however, Orton is expected to boycott his team’s start of offseason training, which starts Monday for the Broncos.
With the league ripping up the labor deal in hopes of getting a more owner-friendly contract, dozens of players who were set to reach the riches of unrestricted free agency this month are instead bound by their teams, which are offering much less than the players could have made in an unfettered marketplace.
Hillis will also be getting a fresh start.
He went from starting tailback under coach Mike Shanahan in 2008 to forgotten fullback under McDaniels, who adamantly refused to use him even though rookie running back Knowshon Moreno frequently came up short in short-yardage situations.
McDaniels insisted that the problems were on the line and not in the backfield and that he’d rather give the ball to his top draft pick. With Spencer Larsen banged up for much of the season, McDaniels said his hands were often tied because he didn’t want to risk running Hillis, who was often his only available fullback.
Hillis had just 13 carries for 53 yards last season. He was inactive for two games, once to attend his grandmother’s funeral in November. He also returned four kicks.
The 240-pound bone-rattler energized the Broncos in 2008 when he emerged during an injury epidemic among the team’s tailbacks and ran for a team-high 343 yards and scored six touchdowns before tearing his right hamstring against Kansas City in December.
The Browns seemed to have found their No. 1 tailback late last season in Jerome Harrison, who finished with a team-high 862 yards rushing. But veteran Jamal Lewis, second on the team in rushing, was released last month, which could provide an opening for Hillis to be the power complement to the small and quick Harrison.
So Hillis gets another chance in Cleveland while Quinn tries to jump-start his career in Denver.
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