NFL investigating Chargers for possible illegal use of Stickum-like substance

21 Oct
2012
by in Fantasy Football, General

According to Jay Glazer of FOXSports.com, the National Football League is investigating the San Diego Chargers for possibly using an illegal "Stick 'em"-like substance during their 35-24 loss to the Denver Broncos last Monday night.

"NFL Security has already begun investigation as SD equipment man was hiding illegal sticky substance and giving to players. Line judge saw it and had it confiscated and sent to Broncos and league", Glazer posted on Twitter.

The Chargers released a statement later on Sunday.

"We are aware of the inquiry and we are cooperating fully with the League," the Chargers announced on their official website.

The equipment manager had the substance hidden in hand towels and the line judge (Jeff Bergman) noticed it during a timeout and made the equipment manager in question empty his pockets. The NFL takes issues of competitive advantages seriously and Glazer adds that sanctions by the NFL could range from a substantial fine to the possible forfeiture of draft picks, the latter of which may depend on how many individuals were involved in using or distributing the illegal substance.

[More NFL: Tim Tebow trademarks 'Tebowing']

"Stickum" has been outlawed by the National Football League since after the 1980 season. The substance is most closely associated with former Oakland Raiders cornerback Lester Hayes, who would slather the sticky substance on his arms and hands during games. Though it has been banned, players have continued to utilize similar substances, using anything at their disposal to gain a competitive advantage. Former NFL player, head coach and current ESPN analyst Herm Edwards said that, even after the ban, he would place a small amount of Stickum on the inside of his cleats to use at key moments during games.

At what point in the game the discovery was made is unknown, so it would be a stretch to assume that the Chargers blowing a 24-point halftime lead can be traced to this incident. However, it is worth noting that, according to Stats, Inc., the Chargers do not have a player anywhere near the league lead in dropped passes this season. Instead of giving the substance to the Chargers receivers, perhaps the equipment manager should have handed it to Philip Rivers, who was intercepted four times and lost a pair of fumbles against the Broncos.

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UFL postpones remainder of 2012 season

20 Oct
2012
by in Fantasy Football, General

After a rocky start to an attempted reboot, the United Football League has notified coaches and players that the remainder of the 2012 season has been postponed. The disclosure was initially made by NFL player agent David Canter, who represents three players in the UFL.

Canter adds that the players will be paid in full for the games they have played and that the league will cover the costs of return flights home, skeptically adding the hash tag "I won't hold my breath". Canter was vocal in his criticism of the league last month after the players had not been paid in a timely manner for Week 1.

According to UFL Director of Communications Larry Weisman, the UFL plans to resume the season in the spring and return for a season in the fall of 2013. The spring has always been a part of the calendar that makes more sense for a developmental league as they would not be competing with college football and the National Football League, both of whom have increased their presence with games scheduled for Thursday and Friday nights in addition to the traditional Saturday/Sunday slate of games.

"It's a shame," Las Vegas Locos head coach Jim Fassel told Peter King of Sports Illustrated. "We're 4-0, and I got guys who would have played for me with the (New York) Giants."

A developmental league would benefit both players — such as Brian Banks — and the National Football League. With the UFL continuing to struggle, perhaps this latest shutdown will open the door for the NFL to fund and operate its own developmental league, where teams would allocate players to fill rosters instead of having them attempt to turn heads in what have become scaled-down OTAs and offseason programs in the new collective bargaining agreement.

Tags: David Canter, developmental league, , , UFL, United Football League
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NFL adds second game in United Kingdom for 2013

17 Oct
2012
by in Fantasy Football, General

The National Football League is expanding its International Series, adding a second game in London's Wembley Stadium during the 2013 season, the league announced on Tuesday. It will be the first time that London has played host to two NFL games in the same season.

On Oct. 11, 2012, the NFL had previously announced a game between the Jacksonville Jaguars, who will be the home team, and the San Francisco 49ers, which is scheduled for Oct. 27, 2013. The Jaguars have agreed to play four home games in London between 2013 and 2016, replacing the St. Louis Rams, who backed out of a three-year commitment to London in order to focus on reaching a new stadium deal in St. Louis. The Rams will host the New England Patriots at Wembley Stadium on Oct. 28, 2012.

On Tuesday, the league added a game between the Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers on Sept. 29, 2013. The Vikings, who will be in the process of building a new stadium, will be the home team.

"Since we started playing regular-season games in London five years ago, we have heard very clearly from our UK fans — they want more football." NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said from the owner meetings in Chicago. "We are excited to play two games in London and take this next step in the growth of our game. We believe that more football will lead to more fans."

Adding a second game in the United Kingdom has been a goal of Goodell's for quite some time. As initially reported by Daniel Kaplan of the SportsBusiness Journal following a Sept. 27, 2011 press conference to announce that New York/New Jersey would host Super Bowl XLVIII, Goodell had hoped to have a second game in the United Kingdom for the 2012 season.

With Steelers chairman emeritus Dan Rooney serving as the United States Ambassador to Ireland, the NFL has considered bringing a regular-season game to the Emerald Isle, but the focus appears to be centered on London, a city the league hopes may become a viable option for a full-time franchise.

"Again, if we can play multiple regular-season games there, that gives you a better opportunity to be successful if you choose to put a franchise in London," Goodell said. "But again, that is the other reason for putting two games in London — we are trying to build that fan base in London. We welcome the fans coming from other parts of Europe. But this is a way to really build that fan base right now in London, which will be critical if you did have a franchise there."

Building and expanding a fan base in London is a great idea, but putting a full-time franchise overseas makes little or no sense.

For starters, that franchise is going to have a difficult time attracting free agents; 40.6 percent of the 1,691 players on NFL rosters at the beginning of the season were from California, Texas, Florida or Georgia. Good luck getting players to move 4,000 to 6,000 miles and across an ocean. (Some players may not even know where London is.) That is, of course, if the team is even based in London. It would make more sense from an operations standpoint -- road travel, signing free agents, adding players during the season, etc... -- for a franchise to set up a base on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States and pop over to London during game weeks.  But if that's the case, that franchise will have to board a plane before every game, and will surely struggle to build a real connection to the city of London that it needs to be a success.

In other words, let's get Los Angeles a team (or two) before we jump the pond.

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Gregg Williams now allowed to attend NFL games; Sean Payton still can’t

30 Sep
2012
by in Fantasy Football, General

Well, there's one thing we know about the National Football League -- it takes care of its own. It also takes care of those who inform on others for the league's benefit. On Sunday morning, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that former New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who was suspended indefinitely for his role in the county scandal, will be allowed to attend NFL games as a fan -- something that current Saints head coach Sean Payton is not allowed to do without league permission.

Williams will attend today's game between the St. Louis Rams and Seattle Seahawks at St. Louis' Edward Jones Dome. Williams was hired as the Rams' defensive coordinator before the league pulled his ticket in March.

The league's public explanation of this odd dichotomy is that Williams has been barred from employment, and this allows him to do what he wants. The league did not mention that just as the pressure against the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell to provide concrete evidence against the players suspended in the scandal is rising, Williams signed an affidavit detailing his role in the alleged bounty program. In that affidavit, which was signed in mid-September, Williams also detailed the roles of the players he coached.

[Also: 49ers out-Wildcat Jets, batter them into submission]

In that affidavit, Williams said that while he took control of an informal pay-for-performance program in 2009, the players -- especially linebacker Jonathan Vilma -- really took hold of the idea later on. Williams asserted that, just as the league had accused, Vilma put a bounty of $10,000 on the table before the 2009 NFC Championship game against the Minnesota Vikings, offering that cash to anyone who took Vikings quarterback Brett Favre out of the game.

Recently, a three-person panel ruled that the suspensions handed down in March against Vilma, linebacker Scott Fujita, end Will Smith, and lineman Anthony Hargrove, were beyond Goodell's powers to install. Goodell can re-suspend the players if "conduct detrimental" is proven, but if the Saints simply erred on the wrong side of salary cap rules by paying their players under the table, that's a subject under separate jurisdiction. The panel did reportedly rule that there was evidence of pay-to-injure during the 2009-2011 timeline, but what evidence that may have been is still unknown.

When you read between the lines, this would appear to be a simple transaction. Williams, whose son Blake coaches the Rams' linebackers, gave the league one of the few pieces of written corroborating evidence in what has been a debacle for Goodell. In return, he'll be able to watch the games he wants to.

Basically, Gregg Williams gets the NFL's version of witness protection. Sean Payton, and the players he's coached, are still on trial.

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NFL commissioner Roger Goodell sends email to fans, tries to explain officiating debacles

28 Sep
2012
by in Fantasy Football, General

With an eight-year labor agreement with the NFLRA in place and ready for ratification by a 51 percent vote by the 121 officials, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell took a moment on Friday to email NFL fans to express "regret" about not being able to reach an agreement sooner and to explain some of the long-term issues (full-time and developmental officials) the league felt were important to obtain in their new agreement with the NFLRA.

[Related: Regular NFL officials return to hero's welcome in Baltimore]

In case you weren't one of the fans to receive this transmission from commissioner Goodell, here is the letter in its entirety, via NFL.com:

To NFL Fans:

The National Football League is at its best when the focus is on the players and the action on the field, not on labor negotiations.

All of us who love the sport appreciate the skills and dedication of the players and coaches. That is why we are focused not just on what happens on the field but what our game will be like in another decade or two. The NFL has always tried to look ahead, to innovate, and to constantly improve in all we do.

We recognize that some decisions may be difficult to accept in the passion of the moment, but my most important responsibility is to improve the game for this generation and the next.

I believe in accountability, not excuses. And I regret we were not able to secure an agreement sooner in the process and avoid the unfortunate distractions to the game. You deserve better.

As a lifelong fan, this wasn't an easy process for anyone involved. I particularly want to commend the replacement officials for taking on an unenviable task and doing it with focus and dedication in the most adverse of circumstances.

Our new agreement gives long-term stability to an important aspect of our game, officiating. More important, with this agreement, officiating will be better in the long run. While the financial issues received the most attention, these negotiations were much more about long-term reforms. For example, beginning with the 2013 season, the NFL will have the option of hiring a number of officials on a full-time basis to work year-round, including on the field. In addition, the NFL will have the option to retain additional officials for training and development purposes, and may assign those additional officials to work NFL games.

We are moving forward with the finest officials in sports back on the field. It's time to put the focus where it belongs — on the clubs and players and our magnificent game, with a special thanks to our fans for their passion.

Roger Goodell

[More: Replacement ref insists he made correct call on late Seattle TD]

Because he earns an eight-figure salary to the bidding of billionaires, Goodell is a fairly easy target for fan anger. And the league certainly took the brunt of the criticism for the labor dispute with the referees. After all, the "finest officials in sports" were locked out from performing their tasks by the National Football League. But it's important to remember that all negotiations are a two-way street and that, as Greg Bedard points out in Friday's Boston Globe, the regular referees, who are in danger of being greeted with public displays of affection from the players, deserve just as much of the blame for the stalemate and the shoddy officiating we saw throughout the preseason and the first three weeks of the regular season that resulted from the dispute.

Fortunately, that's all behind us.

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Replacement ref who signaled ‘touchdown’ for Seahawks not ready to officiate at Division I level

26 Sep
2012
by in Fantasy Football, General

If the National Football League was hoping that the furor over the controversial finish to the Seattle Seahawks' 14-12 win over the Green Bay Packers would die down after 24 hours, it received some bad news on Tuesday.

According to Jim Corbett of USA Today Sports, Lance Easley, the side judge who signaled touchdown by Seahawks wide receiver Golden Tate on what appeared to be an interception by Packers safety M.D. Jennings, was not deemed good enough to become an official at the Division I college level by Karl Richins of the Stars and Stripes Academy for Football Officials in Salt Lake City, Utah.

"I got to know Lance at a June academy I worked at in Reno and when he came to my academy in July," Richins said. "He's a very polite, good Christian gentleman, a good father to his son, Daniel, who was at my academy as well.

"But was Lance ready to work at the NFL level? Absolutely not."

[More: Seattle-Green Bay controversy prompts massive change in payout, frustrates bettors]

According to his since-deleted LinkedIn profile, Easley works as the vice president of Small Business Banking for Bank of America in Santa Maria, Calif. Prior to becoming a replacement official in the National Football League, Easley's experience came from officiating football games at the JUCO level in Northern and Southern California.

According to Larry Brown Sports, Easley also spent time on Tuesday in a Frenso, Calif., club with a cute Packers fan. No word on whether he's a Packer Backer on his Facebook page.

Considering the enormous difference between officiating games at the JUCO level and officiating an NFL game in front of millions of viewers on "Monday Night Football," it's hard to not sympathize with Easley, who, like most of the replacement officials, is surely a good person, but is just not qualified enough to work at an elite level in this field.

[Larry Fitzgerald: Fans will turn TV off if NFL doesn't get referees back fast]

Because Easley had attended his academy, Richins, who declined to become a replacement official in the previous work stoppage in 2001, is taking some heat.

"I'm getting e-mails saying, 'Boy, you must be proud,'" Richins said. "This is not what we intended for our officiating students to do. We train officials to work at the Division I level.

"At no time do we say, 'We can train you for the NFL.' After three days at our academy, Lance was determined by our staff not to be ready for Division I officiating."

Even in the unlikely event that the NFL and NFLRA make progress in their talks towards ending this lockout, replacement officials, including Easley, will be working yet another NFL game this weekend.

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Robert Griffin III felt he was the victim of some cheap shots from the Rams

20 Sep
2012
by in Fantasy Football, General

Last Sunday's Washington Redskins-St. Louis Rams game could certainly be described as "chippy." There were three personal foul penalties and two unsportsmanlike conduct fouls, including one on Redskins wide receiver Josh Morgan that not only removed any possibility of his team tying the game but resulted in death threats via Twitter.

Redskins rookie quarterback Robert Griffin, who was on the receiving end of one of those personal foul penalties, felt the Rams were "unprofessional" in how they played on Sunday, the Associated Press reports.

"I remember one play," Griffin said. "After the play, the guy said: 'We're going to hit you every play.' I said: 'Isn't this football?' It's nothing that I'm not used to. It was extremely weird the way they went about it, though."

Griffin took it a step further, evoking the "b" word that is taboo in the National Football League and is why the same Rams team he is lecturing about professionalism are operating without a defensive coordinator. Gregg Williams, hired by Rams head coach Jeff Fisher in January, is suspended indefinitely for his role in the New Orleans Saints' bounty scandal. Williams' son Blake is coaching the Rams' linebackers and is involved in the Rams' defensive play-calling.

"I don't want to tip-toe the lines of anything that's happened with bounties or anything like that, but they were definitely going after me," Griffin said. "They made it a point, obviously, all week to hit me. Some of the shots were cheap of that nature. But it's nothing I can control. Teams are going to try to hit me because they don't think I can take a hit. I think I've proved over my career that I can."

As talented and as front-and-center as Griffin has been throughout the draft process, the offseason, training camp and now regular season , it's easy to forget that last year at this time he was coming off a big win against Stephen F. Austin and preparing to face Rice. Griffin is just 120 minutes into his professional career, so it's understandable for him to think that teams are hitting him to see if he can take it.

However, what Griffin should realize is that those players on the defensive side of the football are not paid extras in a Subway commercial. They get paid a lot of money — some even more than Griffin does thanks to the new rookie wage scale — to hit him because he's the one with the football in his hand every play and that's their job. Bemoaning it on a weekly basis, or questioning another team's professionalism when it attempts to intimidate you through the press will only make matters worse.

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NFL fines 49ers cornerback Tarell Brown for wearing red sleeves

19 Sep
2012
by in Fantasy Football, General

During the San Francisco 49ers' 27-19 win over the Detroit Lions on Sunday night, 49ers cornerback Tarell Brown started at right cornerback, made four tackles in 65 snaps (100 percent of the 49ers' total) and played six additional snaps on special teams. Brown also wore red sleeves under his uniform, which is a violation of Rule 5, Section 4, Article 5(a) of the 2012 Official Playing Rules of the National Football League, and has been fined $5,250.

Brown himself broke the news of his fine, posting an image of the fine letter he received from the National Football League to Twitter. Brown has since deleted that tweet, but it lives on courtesy of Matt Maiocco of CSN Bay Area. The image also included a URL, fine number and PIN number for Brown to access a secure NFL site that allows players to review why they're being fined and to submit an appeal.

Just in case Brown thinks the NFL is picking on him, 49ers quarterback Alex Smith has been informed that if he ever dares to wear a San Francisco Giants cap during a postgame press conference again, he will be fined $15,000. So, there's that.

"So it's weird," Smith said of the NFL's rule stating that players must wear sponsored gear 90 minutes after every game. "I could wear a Polo shirt after the game and they're not going to fine me."

[Michael Silver's power rankings: NFL's Bay Area teams are light years apart]

While some may and will argue that this is just another example of the NFL being the "No Fun League," the players do wear a uniform and all teams, as evidenced in the letter Brown received, have a designated undergarment color. Since this is Brown's sixth season in the National Football League, he probably knows that the NFL has a uniform policy and has been kind of a stickler about enforcing it, placing officials outside each team's locker room for random inspections.

Since this is also Brown's sixth season with the 49ers, chances are good that Sunday night was not the first time he had to dress himself before a home game and knew which color undergarment the 49ers were designated to wear. The foolproof ways to have avoided a fine was to either go sleeveless or white sleeves like the rest of his teammates.

Brown's $5,250 fine, or "undergarment tax," represents 6.6 percent of his weekly earnings. As he does during each week he is active, Brown will pocket $79,687.50, an amount comprised of a $50,000 game check (1/17ths his $850,000 base salary) and an additional $29,687.50 for each game he is on the 49ers' 46-man game day roster. Should Brown lose his appeal and wear red sleeves again in protest, he faces a potential fine of $10,500 for a second offense.

Chicago Bears wide receiver Earl Bennett racked up $10,000 in fines for violating the league's uniform policy in back-to-back games, but was told he would not be allowed on the field for an attempted third violation. (Side note: Fine amounts rose by 5 percent from 2011 to 2012.)

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Many voices, one man: The NFL remembers Steve Sabol

19 Sep
2012
by in Fantasy Football, General

The NFL lost a legend on Tuesday with the passing of Steve Sabol, the Emmy Award-winning president of NFL Films who battled brain cancer over the last 18 months. Sabol was a central figure in how we all — fans, players, coaches — came to see the National Football League.

Sabol co-founded NFL Films, working as a cameraman and writer before eventually taking over "the family business" from Ed Sabol, his Hall of Fame father.

As the NFL mourned his passing, those who knew and worked with Sabol reflected on his life, his work, and his impact on the game he loved.

"When you walk around the NFL Films library, I call it a working museum because each picture on the wall has a Steve Sabol symbolic memory to it. He put each picture there and every day you're reminded of his genius, his talent, his unbelievable passion for football. I would love passing him in the halls and we would stop and have a five-minute conversation about the history of the league, comparing an old player to a new player. He was just an amazing mind in terms of football and a creative genius. Every day when I walk into that office, I take a picture and try to post it on Twitter because they're unique; they're situated in a setting that he wanted them to be situated in. It's a huge loss for all of us in the NFL family because he was truly part of the creative process that made this league so great." — Michael Lombardi, NFL Network

"When you go into NFL Films and you're around Steve Sabol for any amount of time, you find out that the NFL is not a job, it's not this big powerbroker; it's a celebration of sport, it's a celebration of athletes, it's a celebration of accomplishment and achievement. If you look at all of the Emmys on the wall, if you look at all of the pictures, you look at the history of our game, it is a celebration of what the National Football League is all about." — Sterling Sharpe, former NFL wide receiver, current analyst with the NFL Network

"Steve had amazing passion for the game of football and everything he did at NFL Films reflected positively on the coaches, players and administrators of the National Football League. For the last 22 years, Steve has been a great inspiration to me and was instrumental in my development as an NFL analyst. I will never forget how positively he impacted every person he came in contact with, not just in the football world. You would be hard pressed to find a single person that would have a negative word about Steve." — Ron Jaworski, former NFL quarterback who has worked as an NFL analyst for ESPN and has worked out of the NFL Films offices for years.

NFL Films pioneered the sports television industry's use of "mic'd" players and coaches. Former NFL head coach Steve Mariucci, now of the NFL Network, discussed that process.

"I think I could speak for a lot of coaches, and we all sort of went through the same thing with Steve. I'll never forget the first time that I got asked by Steve to be wired as the head coach of the 49ers. I was very reluctant to do that; I had never been wired before. I said, 'OK I'll do it but I don't want the team to know that I'm wired, let's keep this secret.' He said we have you covered. I was wired up before the game in a private room, the cameras were never close to me; they were on the other side of the field. He said to me just be yourself; don't even think about us, coach the game and then we'll take the wires off when it's all over with. You know how emotions fly during the game and I probably did some things or said some things that I didn't want aired. I remember calling him the next day and said you have to do me a favor, I think I might have cursed or something like that on the sideline; can you not air that please? He said, 'Coach, remember we are not here to make you look bad, you're going to have to trust us; we're here to promote your team, to promote the National Football League and you can trust that we will always, always be on your side and make you look as good as possible. We'll have some fun with this.'…He became like a brother that way; you trusted him so much. Every coach trusts him and NFL Films and that's a general statement around the league. Players and coaches trusted that they would always do the right thing and make you look good." -- Steve Mariucci, former NFL head coach and current NFL Network analyst

"Totally revolutionized it. I am sure he would say if you had to pick one — a kind of turning point — the way they [NFL Films] documented the Ice Bowl game between the Packers and the Cowboys was just perfect with John Facenda's voice. Because the game did have an epic quality to it; it wasn't an exaggeration. It was a game of such high drama and had a certain mythic aspect to it to begin with. Then they heightened it and captured it and that was that the turning point.

Football can be kind of serious, of course a violent, sport and has sort of a whole different atmosphere around it. NFL Films always made a point to find the humor in it, the goofiness in it, the blooper reels, the little asides from someone who was mic'd on the sidelines tosses off. It was just really funny in the heat of battle. They humanized it by sometimes taking it down from Mt. Olympus and just making it funny." — Bob Costas

"Young kids in this business, we really need to understand the impact that Steve Sabol had. We lost a great pioneer a few days ago in Art Modell; now we lose another one. These men had a vision to do something great, and the beautiful thing about what they were doing, it wasn't for them. They had a vision to expand; to expand our league, to expand our game, to expand our brand. I promise you one thing they will always be remembered by is their great name…Steve Sabol's name, we will not be able to mention NFL or NFL Films without Steve Sabol's name…He was one of those people that we have to learn from; we have to research what pushed him, what pushed him to the edge to say, 'This is what I want to do and this is how I want to expand' because his vision was incredible." -- Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis

"I am deeply saddened by the passing of my friend Steve Sabol. Every time I saw him, he brought a quick smile to my face. He was happy everyday on the job for a simple reason — Steve was a man who loved pro football and loved making movies about it. He and NFL Films have long been unparalleled in their craft and for that reason millions of us will forever owe Steve a huge thank you." — Chris Berman, ESPN

The Sabol family has requested that any donations be sent to the Jefferson Foundation for Brain Tumor Research, c/o Lindsey Walker, 925 Chestnut Street, Suite 110, Philadelphia, PA 19107.

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Money Talks: The hidden costs of Joe Haden’s suspension

11 Sep
2012
by in Fantasy Football, General

On Monday, it was confirmed that Cleveland Browns cornerback Joe Haden has been suspended for four games for violating the National Football League's policy on performance enhancing drugs. Specifically, Haden tested positive for Adderall, a stimulant used to treat Attention Deficit Disorder whose use is accepted by the NFL provided that it's prescribed by a doctor.

Haden's four-game suspension and failed appeal is a sign that Haden did not have a prescription to explain the Adderall usage, or if he had obtained a prescription, he failed to disclose that to the league prior to his failed test. Either way, Haden will miss the next four games and pay a very steep financial penalty for doing so.

As member of the 2010 NFL draft class, the last group before the new collective bargaining agreement significantly scaled back rookie compensation, Haden is earning a base salary of $5,765,505 in his third NFL season. Originally scheduled to earn $503,050, Haden reached minimum playing-time thresholds as a rookie, which escalated his 2012 salary to its current level. Losing four game checks, valued at $339,147 apiece, means Haden will forfeit $1,356,589 in salary during his suspension.

Additionally, Haden's suspension also means he is ineligible for the Pro Bowl and any postseason awards. Haden had a $100,000 incentive in his rookie contract tied to the Pro Bowl which he will no longer be eligible to receive. Haden could also forfeit a portion of the $12 million signing bonus he received as the No. 7 overall pick in the 2010 NFL draft.

According to Article 4, Section 9(e) of the 2011 collective bargaining agreement, a player suspended by the NFL for violations of the drug or steroid policy could forfeit any "Forfeitable Salary Allocations on a proportionate weekly basis." Included in the CBA's descriptions of forfeitable salary allocations is the "Salary Cap allocation for the player's signing bonus for that League Year," which means that Haden could be asked by the Browns to forfeit nearly $500,000 of the $2 million that his $12 million signing bonus from 2010 counts against this year's cap.

Haden's suspension also jeopardizes how much of his $50,256,742 (maximum value) rookie contract he can earn.

According to a source with knowledge of Haden's contract, up to $7.85 million in additional base salary escalators were available over the last two years of the deal. In 2013, Haden could add up to $3.65 million to his $6,936,429 base salary and up to $4.2 million to a $6,678,193 base salary in 2014. Smaller escalators were tied to both Haden's playing time (85 percent) and interception totals (five or more in a season) plus the number of Browns wins (10). Larger increases were available if Haden has multiple seasons with playing time above 85 percent and the team's defense ranks in the Top 5 in NFL or Top 3 in AFC in certain categories in those same seasons.

Haden is on track to earn very little, if any, of that $7.85 million in available escalation.

Though Haden had six interceptions as a rookie, he started just seven of 16 games and played in 73.86 percent of the Browns' defensive snaps, falling well short of that season's playing-time threshold to trigger any escalation for the 2013 and 2014 seasons. Last season, Haden played in 90.68 percent of the defensive snaps, but the Browns won only four games, again denying the shutdown corner any future escalation in 2013 or 2014. A four-game suspension will make it very difficult for Haden to reach the 85 percent playing-time requirement to trigger any escalation from this season, as well.

Haden is still on target to earn nearly $7 million next season, but the $3.65 million in potential escalation in 2013 will completely vanish along with most of the $4.2 million in escalators for 2014.

Breaking Down the Daryl Washington and James Laurinaitis contract extensions

Last week, Arizona Cardinals inside linebacker Daryl Washington and St. Louis Rams middle linebacker James Laurinaitis signed contracts worth over $8 million per season that locked each player up through the 2017 season.

Washington had two years remaining on his rookie contract and signed a four-year extension (2014-17) that included $32 million in "new money," bringing his compensation over the next six seasons to just under $33.2 million. Laurinaitis had one year left on his rookie deal and his five-year extension is worth $41.5 million in "new money." Over the next seasons, Laurinaitis can earn just over $42.2 million with another $2.5 million available in base salary escalators from 2013-17 ($500,000 per season).

Laurinaitis had been scheduled to earn $620,000 in base salary this season and could have been an unrestricted free agent in 2013, though the Rams could have kept him off the market by use of the franchise tag (estimated to be worth $9.049 million if the salary cap remains flat). Because Laurinaitis was a season closer to hitting the free-agent market, his contract beat Washington's by a significant margin in the two areas of greatest importance: Cash payout over the first three years of the contract and guaranteed money.

According to sources with knowledge of both contracts, over the next three seasons (2012-14), Washington will earn $20.5 million, including $19.33 million in "new" money. Laurinaitis is scheduled to earn $24.62 million over that same period of time, $24 million of which is comprised of "new" money.

Laurinaitis received $23 million in "new" guaranteed money. This amount is comprised of a $2 million signing bonus in 2012, a $1 million base salary and $11 million roster bonus in 2013 and a $9 million base salary guarantee in 2014.

Currently Laurinaitis' $2 million signing bonus and $620,000 base salary this season are "fully" guaranteed. The rest is only partially guaranteed, but that will change soon. If Laurinaitis is on the roster when the Rams travel to the Chicago Bears on Sept. 23, which he will be, his $11 million roster bonus in 2013 will go from being guaranteed for skill and injury only to fully guaranteed (skill, injury and cap). If Laurinaitis is on the roster five days after Super Bowl XLVII, his $1 million base salary in 2013 and $9 million of his $10 million base salary in 2014 will go from being guaranteed for injury only to fully guaranteed.

Put another way, the $23 million in Laurinaitis' contract will be fully guaranteed by Feb. 8, 2013.

Washington's guarantee is limited to his $2.5 million signing bonus and $2.5 million base salary for the 2012 season, $540,000 of which is from his base salary on his rookie contract. Not even Washington's $2.4 million base salary in 2013 is guaranteed. However, Washington is due a $10 million option bonus at some point during the 2013 season. While that option bonus is likely to be paid, it's not guaranteed and there is no non-exercise fee attached to it, which gives the Cardinals a rather significant "out" if Washington fails to continue to his development into a Pro Bowl-caliber player or is injured this season.

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