Jacksonville finished their third preseason game on Thursday, playing the Packers. Team cuts will be done very soon, and you will see some names on the cut list that will surprise you. One of those seems to inevitably be WR Reggie Williams, the former #1 pick who seems to have fallen out of favor with the Jags. While Williams has been somewhat productive in his tenure here, he hasn’t seemed to emerge and play as the team wanted out of a #1 pick. Add to that his competition at the position, which right now seems to be healthy, and you’ll see Williams hit the streetand snatched up by another team soon.
Another area where there is considerable depth is at Linebacker. The Jags have all starters back from last year, plus Mike Peterson back from injury in ’06. So, one or two guys will be squeezed out. Look for maybe Nick Greisen, Brian Iwuh, Tony Gilbert, or Jorge Cordova to be cut. They also could start probably for many other teams. I also believe RB LaBrandon Toefield could be a casualty. The Jags will probably keep four RBs, then look for one to be a special teams guy. With Fred Taylor, Maurice Jones-Drew, Alvin Pearman, and now Greg Jones back from injury, Toefield might not fit into the mix. So, it will be interesting to see who the Jags list on their final roster.
This exhibition season to me is almost a joke. The NFL stages these games more so to pile up the cash than to prepare for the regular season. Teams end up playing mainly second- and third-stringers for most of the games. Leaving fans nothing more than a few wasted moments for an evening of And of course, in a way, teams don’t like playing these games, either, especially the coaches who are praying desperately that their star elements don’t get injured. Many of them sit, simply to avoid snapping an Achilles or ACL, or perhaps breaking a bone or tearing a muscle. Yet it happens every single preseason…a key starter for a number of teams will go down during a game, then spend the whole season on IR, out for the season. Last year locally, it was DE Reggie Heyward, who had a nice deal.
The Yankees have been on a real nice run since the All-Star break, and are now within FOUR games of the Red Sox, as play started this week. New York has most of their player healthy and ready to go, and it should be interesting to see how they and the Sox duke it out for the rest of the season. Meanwhile, the Indians and Tigers are going at it in the Al Central, and the Angels and Mariners are battling in the AL West. These races are gonna get nasty the next six weeks, and SOMEONE who deserves to be in the playoffs won’t get in. Meanwhile, the Braves are doing their best to unseat the Mets in the NL East, while Phillies hang in there. One clear surprise in the last few weeks has been the Arizona D-Backs, who have climbed into first in the NL West, while the Dodgers went on a losing streak over the past few weeks. We’ll see if the Dodgers can recover.
This weekend the Tour will inaugurate their FedEx Playoff, designed to bring more fan interest into tournaments after the PGA Championship has been played. Typically, interest and viewership in the latter part of the PGA Tour season drop dramatically, with more sports fans interested in the NFL, College Football, and the World Series. This deal starts with 144 players involved. All are given established point-figures, based on their standing. Tiger Woods, the obvious #1 player, receives 100,000 points, while Jeff Gove, ranked #144, gets 84,700. Players then receive points as they play in the next four events, with elimination getting down to the final 30 players for the Tour Championship, which will take place September 13th.
While the Tour has spent a huge amount of time and money in marketing and promoting this Fed Ex Cup, it hasn’t taken ahold of everyone the way the Tour wanted. Even the players seem apathetic to the whole process. Tiger has chosen to not even PLAY in the first tournament this weekend, which, in a way, makes no sense. A lot of players are excited about possibly winning the $10 million payout, until they realize they won’t receive that amount for a long time, as it is to be paid as an annuity. So, the winner won’t get the cash until maybe 2027. And so we’ll see how it all plays out. With professional golf overstuffed with trophies, Championships, Cups, and the like, this FedEx Cup seems like a lackadaisical stroll in the park.
Tom Weppel talks trash with Greg Larson, Lonnie Marts, Eugene Chung, Artis Gilmore, and Ron Duguay on SportsAvengers.com 24/7.
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