MMQB Review: Where Is the Love? Edition

There is still time to join the Fantasy Baseball league in Yahoo if anyone wants to. I have set the draft for closer to the beginning of the season. The League ID is "420904" and the password is "eckstein." If anyone who wants to join has recommendations or preferences on how the league is set up, just use the message board for the league to say what you think. Everyone feel free to join. Also, I have started a NCAA Tournament Bracket Pick 'Em in a Yahoo league if anyone is interested in joining. The ID is "8624" and the password is "eckstein." Feel free to join and we can now make our picks since the brackets have been announced. The winner of each league gets a bag of the new Doritos "Late Night Last Call Jalapeno Popper" chips.

We are one week closer to the NFL regular season, which means we are also one week closer to Brett Favre's annual retirement/non-retirement dance and the deluge of articles about how stupid it is to base the MLB All-Star Game result on who wins the World Series. Let's enjoy the quietness and the sound of college basketball being played while we can. Today Peter sees all the teams in the NFL trading for mediocre quarterbacks and wonders why the best mediocre quarterback, Donovan McNabb, isn't drawing interest.

(That was a joke Eagles fans, McNabb isn't mediocre.)

Whoa.

Keanu Reeves will be writing MMQB today in place of Peter King.

Tease alert: Stay tuned, down a bit in the column, for a good nugget about the first thing Rex Ryan said when he woke up from lap-band weight-loss surgery Saturday.

Where the fuck is a cheeseburger?

Did I get it right? Actually, it was probably something about signing Tomlinson. "We have to get Tomlinson...and get me a cheeseburger!"

The weekend news leaves us with one big personnel story (except for the fate of Brandon Marshall) prior to the draft: Why are teams not fighting to get Donovan McNabb or Kevin Kolb from the Eagles?

Oh I don't know. It could be the huge massive price they have required to trade for these players. Reportedly the Eagles want 2 1st round picks for Kolb. I can only imagine what they want for McNabb.

If I'm laying odds, it's 60-40 McNabb is under center for the Eagles on opening day. But that 40 percent (who knows -- maybe it's 30 or 35) means something.

Ok, no Peter, YOU are laying odds. That means YOU get to choose the odds of McNabb being under center on opening day, so if it is 40%, YOU would know if it was 40% or another number. So the very fact you aren't even sure about what the odds are, which you are choosing, that McNabb is under center at the beginning of the season means the 40% absolutely means nothing. A random number drawn out of the air by someone that may or may not be right is the very meaning of a number that should mean nothing.

Case in point. Remember last summer, two weeks before Philly landed Vick, when Reid said signing Vick "is not the direction we're looking"? He never said, "We have no interest in Vick.'' So when he says he's happy with his quarterbacks and feels McNabb is his guy, it's a lot different than saying he wouldn't deal him.

Yeah, we get it. Most of Peter's readers follow the NFL and understand that coaches lie and deceive to ensure they get what they want. I don't know if Peter just thinks we are all stupid or what.

The fact that there's a real chance the Eagles could deal McNabb, and that McNabb is a half-year younger than Peyton Manning and apparently intends to play four or five more seasons,

Simply because Manning is half of a year younger than Peyton Manning doesn't mean he will be as good as Peyton Manning for as long as Manning is good. It doesn't work that way. Plus, McNabb could intend to play for 10 more years, but he's not the one making the decision on this, it's his body that eventually decides. So this sentence is no proof of really anything.

and also apparently has kicked the injury bug, leads me to this question: What in the world are all these quarterback-needy teams doing? Why aren't teams running to deal for McNabb?

He's fully healthy for one season in his near-mid-30's and now he has "kicked the injury bug?" I really start to wonder if these NFL players do pay Peter to do public relations or publicity for them. Look, McNabb is a great quarterback, but the fact he was healthy last year and another quarterback his age has stayed healthy, plus he intends to play 5 more years, doesn't mean he is the pick of the litter or is undervalued in the trade market. It also doesn't mean McNabb is going to play at a high level for the next 5 years for sure.

I asked a coach with a quarterback need about McNabb, and the coach said because McNabb is on the last year of his contract and would probably need to be re-signed, and the fact that Philadelphia would want a high draft choice for him in a very good draft, and the fact that he doesn't have a lot of years left, all combine to make it a tough trade. Understood.

Apparently it's not understood. I wish Bill Belichick (that's my guess) had told Peter this more forcefully to help him understand, because he clearly doesn't.

But McNabb is 33.

Right, which means he doesn't have a lot of years left while playing at a high level.

I have my own problems with McNabb. I don't consider him on the Manning-Brady-Brees plane. I think the Eagles should go with Kolb and make the best deal they can for McNabb this offseason, because, basically, it's Groundhog Day in Philadelphia. Every year's the same, and I don't see McNabb getting Philly over the hump and into another Super Bowl.

So while Peter King sees and acknowledges all of this, he still thinks a team should trade for Donovan McNabb? Does Peter see McNabb getting a less talented team to a Super Bowl? So why is McNabb not good enough for the Eagles right now, but he is perfectly fine for other teams and should be wanted through a trade? This doesn't make sense.

So why would I want to pawn him off on another quarterback-needy team when I don't think he's a top-five quarterback? Simple. Because he's a top-10 or top-12 quarterback, and they're too hard to find to let one pass when he's just sitting there for the taking.

He is 33. How much longer will he be a top-10 or top-12 quarterback? That's the problem. McNabb is going to need a new contract, there may be a lockout next year, and no one knows how effective a 34 year old quarterback who wants a new contract will be.

McNabb would shore up any team's most important position for the next half-decade.

This is idiocy. Absolutely not. McNabb is not going to play at a high level when he is 37-39 years old. There is no way. I will pay someone $100 if McNabb is a top-12 quarterback when he is 38 years old...and that's the entire point of why no one is trading for him. A team that is on the brink of a playoff berth most likely already has a good quarterback and a team that is trying to get better probably needs the draft picks trading for McNabb would require.

Why do the Eagles have a higher trade request for Kolb than McNabb? Because he is younger and McNabb doesn't have 5 seasons left in him. If McNabb was a few years younger and not a free agent soon, then maybe there would be more interest.

Again, I will ask...does Donovan McNabb pay Peter King to trump up a trade market for him? Not that anyone would trust Peter enough to believe him about McNabb, but it's like Peter works for him.

What would you rather have, a four- or five-year shot at a relatively sure thing in McNabb (with a +12 TD/INT ratio in each of his last four seasons), or a guy who makes you go to bed uneasy every night for the next two or three years because you just don't know how he'll pan out?

McNabb has also played in 63 out of the last 80 regular season games and he is 33 years old. I know he has great stats and maybe a team should trade for him, but we can't ignore the price the Eagles want as compared to how many top-flight years McNabb has left. Well, Peter can ignore this, but I can't.

The last time I heard so many raves about a draft beforehand was the 2004 crop, with the three good quarterbacks (Rivers, Manning, Roethlisberger) and rock-solid depth at several other positions.

Well, I looked up that draft Sunday, and here were the fifth through 10th picks in this so-called superior draft:

5. Washington: Sean Taylor, S, Miami (Fla.).
6. Cleveland: Kellen Winslow, TE, Miami (Fla.).
7. Detroit: Roy Williams, WR, Texas.
8. Atlanta: DeAngelo Hall, CB, Virginia Tech.
9. Jacksonville: Reggie Williams, WR, Washington.
10. Houston: Dunta Robinson, CB, South Carolina.

These are only 6 picks from the draft. Sean Taylor died after making a Pro Bowl, Winslow has had injuries but is a good tight end, Roy Williams and Hall have underachieved but aren't terrible players, Reggie Williams was a bust, and Dunta Robinson is a #1 corner. I wouldn't say these players are bad picks or anything and they had a flame-out rate probably a bit better than some other drafts. Peter is cherry picking from this draft to make it look worse and not listing the following players who were taken early in the 2004 draft either (not including the 3 quarterbacks who currently have made it to 3 Super Bowls):

Vince Wilfork
Steven Jackson
Jonathan Vilma
Tommie Harris
Shawn Andrews
Will Smith
Chris Gamble
Lee Evans
Chris Snee
Karlos Dansby

Those were just until pick #34 in that draft. So, really he has no point.

Forgot to mention Robert Gallery, second overall pick. Six years later, six of the top 10 picks in a thought-to-be excellent draft are gone, with just traces of the impact they were supposed to have left on their teams. A seventh, Gallery, was so unimpressive at tackle the Raiders moved him to guard. That is not what you want to have happen with the second pick in a draft.

So because that draft was hyped and didn't live up to the expectations supposedly set, at least in Peter's mind, the 2010 draft won't either? Since we are talking about quarterbacks, the quarterbacks from that draft, Roethlisberger, Rivers, and Manning, seemed to do well. I like how Peter talks about McNabb as being better than a drafted quarterback in this year's draft, and uses the example of the 2004 draft where there were busts, just not that many busts from highly drafted quarterbacks. Yet, this is supposed to prove quarterbacks in the draft are a crapshoot in 2010...but it doesn't.

It's time for one of the QB-needy teams to step up. Seattle's got the sixth and 14th picks, San Francisco the 13th and 17th picks. Re: Seattle, franchise saviors usually don't last forever. Nick Saban and Steve Spurrier can tell you that. If I'm Pete Carroll, and I can have Donovan McNabb as my quarterback for the next four years, I jump at it.

Bot those teams are looking to build with multiple pieces in the draft, why would they trade one or more draft picks for a 33 year old quarterback when they have other needs on the roster as well?

Here ends Peter doing press for Donovan McNabb. I wonder what he charges to pimp out players in his MMQB?

Denver gave Cleveland versatile backup runner Peyton Hillis (who might be the best player in this trade), a sixth-round pick this year and a conditional pick in the 2012 draft that I'm told won't be better than a fourth-round pick. This for the 22nd pick in 2007 who had 12 starts to prove he belonged.

I can't believe that is all the Browns could get for Quinn. I don't love him, but he hasn't even been given a good shot or good coaching in the NFL. I am not saying he will succeed but he at least needs a shot to do so.

Ryan was in on meetings with Tomlinson on Friday in New Jersey to try to persuade him to sign as a free-agent with the Jets. Then the Jets coach, who has always struggled with his weight, went to Manhattan on Saturday to have lap-band surgery on his stomach, and the first thing he did when he woke up from the surgery was ask: "Did we get LT signed yet?''

I didn't even read this before I guessed earlier. I promise. So the Jets got rid of a 31 year old running back who ran for 1,400 yards last year because he was too expensive, so they could sign a 31 year old running back who ran for 730 yards last year? I know the Jets had to pay Jones according to the contract he signed, but he made less money signing with the Chiefs than Tomlinson made with the Jets. How is this an upgrade exactly?

the answer was no, so when Ryan had rested and returned home late in the day Saturday, he called Tomlinson to put on one last sales pitch. And Sunday morning, Tomlinson settled on the Jets.

The Jets also settled on Tomlinson.

The Vikings line showed some big holes at times last year, and is aging. I thought it was the right choice for Tomlinson, and though his career's in free-fall, this is the best situation for him to have a chance for one or two good sunset seasons.

I think the Jets should have either just kept Thomas Jones or found a running back in the draft to backup Shonn Greene. Did anyone on the Jets staff actually watch Tomlinson run last year? I don't even know if there is a hole if he can hit it fast enough for a gain over 4 yards.

"I've got all the love in the world for Darren Sharper. I just don't have all the money in the world for Darren Sharper.''

--New Orleans GM Mickey Loomis, on the Saints' plans for re-signing the 34-year-old free-agent safety who played a major role in the team's Super Bowl

Translation: We want someone else to set the market for us by giving Sharper an offer, or else we'll lowball the tar out of him.

Still feeling the love New Orleans? It is probably a smart move for the Saints to not offer Sharper a huge deal, but it is funny how fast in the NFL it goes from a celebration of love to pure business when it comes to free agent players.

"The New England Patriots' void at tight end is as large as any team in the NFL. They don't have a tight end on the roster who has played in a regular-season NFL game, and they don't officially have a tight ends coach. There are holes, and then there are gaping holes. This is one of the latter. That the Patriots are in this position is a result of their own doing, because they had an abysmal 2009 in evaluating tight ends.''

--ESPNBoston's Mike Reiss on the Patriots, who have no tight end on the roster with an NFL catch after entering training camp last year with Benjamin Watson (now with Cleveland), David Thomas (now with New Orleans), Alex Smith (free agent) and Chris Baker (free agent) and now having none of them.

Thank God Peter just updated us on the Patriots tight end situation. I was starting to get worried about how the position was going to shake out. After last week's brief depth chart discussion we had with Peter on the wide receivers, is he going to talk about the offensive line next week of the Patriots? More importantly, when are we reviewing the linebacker situation for the Patriots in MMQB?

Enjoyable/Aggravating Travel Note of the Week

Not a travel note per se, but an observation about living in Boston that I wouldn't have considered before moving here a year ago. This is the only place I've been where, even with a big golf umbrella, you get wet when you walk for 20 minutes in the kind of Nor'easter we had over the weekend. It rains sideways. So if you position your umbrella to stop the rain from pelting you from the side, some of it's going to hit you from overhead anyway.

Boston weather is so dedicated like it's fans that it doesn't care if you have an umbrella, it will get you wet anyway with the rain. Most other weather in cities just rains normally, but Boston weather is important and special and rains sideways because it is so dedicated to getting you wet. In fact, many Boston fans are so dedicated to the Red Sox, Patriots, and Celtics because of the dedication shown by the sideways rain...the next NFL team the area gets (which they deserve at least 2 more) are going to be called the Boston Sideways Rain. You can't find this type dedicated rain anywhere else in the world.

(I would read that again in a Tommy from Quinzee-type voice. It may sound better like that.)

c. No one in the league would have paid Brandon Manumaleuna $3 million to play football in 2010 -- except the Bears, who paid him $6.1 million: $2 million to sign, $3 million in a roster bonus, and $1.055 million in salary.

I think the Bears and Mike Martz have a plan that I am and the rest of the world are not privy to at this point. Martz liked Manumaleuna in St. Louis and obviously wants him as part of his masterplan in Chicago. We have to remember when Peter is talking about money being spent on players, he can't figure out why no team is coughing up a 1st round pick (plus more) for Donovan McNabb and then rewarding him with a new contract.

h. Interesting sign that the Dolphins don't plan on Chad Pennington playing much, if at all: He gets $200,000 in bonus money for every game he plays one or more plays.

It's not really that interesting. If Pennington basically becomes the starter for the team and plays in all the games he gets $3.2 million dollars. If there is an injury to Chad Henne or Pennington is able to beat Henne out, that money should be worth it. I don't know if Pat White is the guy the Dolphins want starting for that team quite yet.

j. Karlos Dansby, $18 million (including $400,000 in workout bonuses) over years one and two in Miami. He'd better be doing his best Ray Lewis impersonation for that kind of money.

Whatever. Ray Lewis at this point in his career needs to be doing a Karlos Dansby impersonation. It's a lot of money, but anyone who has seen Dansby play more than a few times knows he isn't going to slack off and he is a good linebacker.

2. I think I can't wait to hear Mike Holmgren's and Eric Mangini's explanation of paying Jake Delhomme $7 million in 2010. I really can't wait.

Jake Delhomme is a nice guy. You just want to pay him money because he is so nice. I actually don't like this signing because of the money, but otherwise I think Delhomme is a great guy to have on a team right now...as a backup.

4. I think -- finally on Delhomme -- that the Agent of the Month (or Year, or Decade) has to be Jake's man Rick Smith, for getting him $19 million from Carolina last year and $7 million from the Browns (guaranteed, according to ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio) this year. Look at that stat line just above here, and tell me how strong it is to get that man $26 million over two years.

The thing about Delhomme is that his teammates love playing for him. Even when he was terrible they didn't blame him and they loved having him be the quarterback. Jake Delhomme is like a drug, you just want to believe he will be better, because he is so convincing. He even convinced Bill Simmons last year. That being said...there is no Steve Smith at wide receiver to rescue him in Cleveland and he doesn't have two Pro Bowl caliber running backs either...both of which he had in Carolina and still struggled.

7. I think -- and I know this is a basketball opinion -- but the idea of expanding the NCAA Tournament field from 65 teams to 96 is patently absurd. I can just hear it now: All the coaches want it because it will help other coaches keep jobs. Athletic directors want it because it'd bring in more money. Just what we need -- the 11th team in the Big East making the Big Dance because it has a better RPI than the 10th team in the SEC, or however those things are figured. And the 11th team in the Big East (let's put a name to it -- Cincinnati is the 11th-place team in the Big East) becomes the 19th seed in the West Bracket. So at 12:30 in the afternoon on a Thursday, Cincinnati and Cornell or Arkansas-Little Rock or George Mason or whoever will play a game in Corvallis, Ore., in the first round of the West Bracket. Where are the great injustices of teams not making it this year? Seton Hall? A Virginia Tech team that needed overtime to beat Delaware and played a competitive game with Brown?

While I do agree with Peter about this issue, this is really the first year in a long time where there weren't that many quality bubble teams. In the past there have been some really good teams left out of the tournament. In fact, the past two Virginia Tech teams were better than this year's Virginia Tech team and they didn't make the NCAA tournament either. So I agree with him, but this year is a bit misleading because not too many quality teams got left out this year, but that's not the case every year.

And talk about rendering conference tournaments, already a waste of time, totally meaningless.

I don't know if conference tournaments are meaningless. Ask Georgia Tech, ask Washington, and ask Georgetown if they are meaningless.

8. I think the odds of overtime undergoing serious reform at the NFL meetings starting next Sunday at probably 40 or 45 percent, which is discouraging.

Of course it won't pass. The solution was too simple and I actually liked it. I still don't see why they can't flip a coin at the beginning of the game to see who would get the ball first in overtime. Rulebook came up with that idea and I really like it. It adds strategy and teams can play around the coin flip, which makes it less of an issue at the end of the game.

If OT reform fails, a key part will be this: I think the coaches who are strident about keeping the system the way it is -- and I talked to one the other day -- don't want to have another layer of decision-making added to their list.

God forbid they have to make one more big decision. We want head coaches to stay away from having to make too many big decisions in an NFL game I guess.

c. Condolences to Keith Olbermann, my NBC football partner, on the loss of his dad Saturday after a lengthy illness. I could tell by Keith's stirring references to his dad how much he meant to him.

You could also tell how much he meant to him by the fact he was HIS FATHER. That tends to be a dead give-way as to how Keith Olbermann feels about him.

e. Coffeenerdness: Quick review on the new Starbucks dark roast, Yukon Blend: Nice smoky full-flavored coffee, not quite with the bite of Italian Roast but a good midday coffee.

Now that I have this information, my life is now complete.

I have to also say, Peter did not mention Brett Favre in his MMQB this week. I am sure Favre will realize he isn't getting enough publicity and do something over the next week to get Peter to mention him...but kudos to Peter. Maybe he has finally moved on.