NFL OffSeason News...

[RVR II]

So we gots us a nuther QB?! A Notre Damer at that??

Panthers pick Clausen, LaFell, Edwards in NFL draft

CHARLOTTE The Carolina Panthers ended their long wait in the draft by ending Jimmy Clausen's surprising drop, taking the Notre Dame quarterback with the 48th pick on Friday.

Carolina traded for an extra third-round pick to take Appalachian State's Armanti Edwards with the 89th pick. The Panthers gave up next year's second-round pick to New England to take the undersized quarterback, who led the Mountaineers to a monumental upset over Michigan and two FCS national titles.

In addition to Clausen and Edwards, the Panthers, picked LSU receiver Brandon LaFell 78th overall.

After sitting out the first night of the draft with no first-round pick, the Panthers addressed one of their biggest needs and perhaps presented competition to newly minted starter Matt Moore.

The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Clausen was rated as a first-round pick by many analysts, but wasn't selected on Thursday. Carolina took him ahead of his college teammate, Golden Tate, and other receiver prospects.

Clausen, who threw 60 touchdowns and 27 interceptions with the Fighting Irish, will join a thin quarterback unit with Carolina. The Panthers released longtime starter Jake Delhomme last month.

[RVR II]

Former NFL Great Lawrence Taylor Arrested in Rape Investigation


Football Hall of Famer and New York Giants player Lawrence Taylor. Taylor was arrested Thursday, May 6, 2010, in connection with a reported rape in the New York City suburbs. (AP)

Former New York Giants star Lawrence Taylor was arrested Thursday morning in connection with a rape investigation involving a 15-year-old girl at a Rockland County, N.Y., hotel, authorities said.

Taylor, 51, who lives in Pembroke Pines, Fla., was taken into custody by Town of Ramapo police after being accused of raping the teenager at the Holidome Hotel in Suffern, N.Y., a New York City suburb, police sources told the New York Post.

The two-time Super Bowl champion was charged with third-degree rape, a charge that involves having intercourse with a minor, The Associated Press reported. The teenager allegedly was beaten during the attack, the sources told the Post.

Taylor, who also has a residence in New Jersey, will be arraigned later Thursday afternoon.

The Hall of Fame linebacker -- affectionately nicknamed "L.T." by fans -- spent his entire 12-year career with the Giants. Taylor retired in 1993 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999.

Taylor has had a troubled past. He admitted to using cocaine and was suspended by the NFL on several occasions for failing drug tests.

Guess LT figures if they're old enough to bleed, they're old enough to breed..

[Bob]

Yeah, I am afraid for LT that the math of Pimp + Abuse + Sex with Minor = Jail.

[RVR II]

I like Mark Kriegel's take on LT..

It is tempting to think of Lawrence Taylor as Ben Roethlisberger writ large, to wag your finger and proclaim this latest arrest as the natural consequence of entitlement and risk.

But a life lived so badly doesn't qualify as a morality tale. In fact, there's nothing moral at all about Lawrence Taylor.
More on LT


Football's greatest defensive player was unlike any other athlete. With unmatched ferocity and talent, he didn't have to train. He didn't have to lift. He could snort and smoke and drink and whore about, and still lead the league in sacks. And he always seemed quite proud of it.

Now, 29 years after he was drafted — an occasion he recently recounted for having downed "41 Coors Lights" — Taylor remains unlike any athlete I've ever encountered. For all he was given, most apparent now is what he lacks.

Consider him with his contemporaries: a trio of gifted but perennially-recovering cokeheads who became famous in New York in the Eighties. Darryl Strawberry, God bless him, had some. Dwight Gooden could fake it. But Lawrence Taylor had none at all. I'm talking about shame. I don't even think Lawrence Taylor has the capacity for it. I've never seen a guy embrace his inner dirt bag quite like LT.

According to police, this latest arrest involves a pimp and a teenage prostitute who was allegedly delivered to LT with an already blackened eye. He was taken into custody early Thursday in room 160 at the Holiday Inn in Suffern, N.Y.

"As with every celebrity, Mr. Taylor is a target," said his attorney, Arthur Aidala, who categorically denied his client had sex with the 16-year-old.
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Now I understand that Taylor is entitled to the presumption of innocence — but only in a courtroom. His life as a man is out there to be judged. He failed at least two NFL drug tests, though who knows how many he would've flunked if he hadn't availed himself of various teammates' urine samples. He was arrested on drug charges in 1996, '97 and '98, all resulting in conviction or court-mandated rehab. In 2000, he got five years probation for tax evasion. Also, as his lawyer described him as a "loving family man," I'm obliged to mention that he was once arrested for failure to pay child support.

Also worth mentioning: This Holiday Inn is about six miles from a notorious neighborhood called The Hill in Spring Valley, N.Y., where, as mere coincidence would have it, the opening scene of Taylor's second autobiography takes place.

"LT: Over the Edge" was a huge bestseller. But the protagonist recalls his misadventures with too much glee for anyone's comfort.

It begins with — what else? — Taylor copping drugs in the mid-Nineties. But it sounds like a Seventies blaxploitation picture. After Taylor makes the buy, a guy with a gun in the passenger seat of LT's Cadillac rips him off for his Rolex and his pinkie ring. In short order, the hero-drug-addict-linebacker turns on his assailant and starts "pounding him in the face with my fists."

Finally, this little set-piece scene ends with — what else? — LT hitting the gas and thinking to "grab that punk ass by the neck and shove him out of the car.

"And then I drove home and smoked their crack."

Talk about a happy ending! Surprised he didn't celebrate with a sack dance.

Then again, it was a long time ago. "A period in my life," he recalled, "when the only people in my life were dealers, addicts, and hookers."

My, how things have changed. A decade into the new millennium, he finds himself six miles down the road.

This is your life, Lawrence Taylor.

[RVR II]

MOBILE, Ala. -- Former Oakland Raiders  quarterback JaMarcus Russell has been charged with possession of a controlled substance -- codeine syrup -- after being arrested at his home in Alabama on Monday, authorities said.

The 24-year-old former LSU star and the No. 1 draft choice in 2007 was arrested as part of an undercover narcotics investigation, said Mobile County Sheriff's spokeswoman Lori Myles. She would not say what led to his arrest. She said he did not have a prescription for the codeine.

Russell, who graduated from high school in Mobile, was booked into the city jail and released soon afterward on $2,500 bond, online records show.

The Raiders released Russell, considered one of the NFL's biggest draft busts, in May after he won only seven of his 25 starts and was benched. He completed just 52.1 percent of his passes in his career with 18 touchdowns, 23 interceptions, 15 lost fumbles and a passer rating of 65.2.

Oakland paid Russell about $36.4 million through the 2009 season. Since the start of the common draft in 1967, only one other No. 1 pick was released this quickly in his NFL career. Indianapolis cut 1992 top pick Steve Emtman after three seasons, but that was more because of injuries than production.

Russell and his agent did not immediately return calls for comment.

[Bob]

That was one of the worst kept secrets in the NFL.   Guess that is not good for your conditioning or brain activity.