dargonking999
03-15-2005, 08:02 PM
I get asked a lot why I cover NFL Europe (http://www.nfleurope.com/). The answer changes over the years, as the league changes, but the best way to reply is to pose another question. Namely, how do you feel about the following team, chosen from last season's NFL active rosters? Offense
WR -- Marcus Robinson, Brian Finneran, Dane Looker, Chris Horn
WR/KR -- Dante Hall, Michael Lewis
TE -- Jed Weaver, Ryan Neufeld, Ben Steele
T -- Barry Sims, Matt Lepsis, Barry Stokes
G -- Brian Waters, Marco Rivera, Joe Andruzzi
C -- Ben Hamilton, Andy McCallum
QB -- Jake Delhomme, Kurt Warner, Kelly Holcomb
RB -- Aaron Stecker, Maurice Hicks, Jamal Robertson
FB -- Obafemi Ayanbadejo, Josh Parry
Defense
DE -- Marques Douglas, Carl Powell, Bobby Hamilton, Gary Stills
DT -- LaRoi Glover, Kelly Gregg, Keith Traylor, Brandon Noble
LB -- Keith Adams, Nate Wayne, Donnie Spragan, Fred Jones, Brandon Ayanbadejo, Tim Johnson
CB -- Kelly Herndon, Corey Ivy, Todd Franz
S -- Nick Ferguson, Deke Cooper, Chris Young
PK -- Adam Vinatieri or David Akers
P -- Brian Moorman or Scott Player
ST -- Sean Morey, Steve Gleason
You'd probably say it lacks a game-breaking runner, a No. 1 wideout, a cover corner: it's light at what are usually called "skill" positions, but are really more the "natural talent" positions, where the successful pros come from the top of the draft, and where no amount of coaching replaces essential size or speed.
You've probably guessed that this team consists solely of players from NFL Europe. Thus it's loaded with late-round picks, street free agents, and projects who switched positions, but with six or seven Pro Bowl selections it still looks pretty respectable, and if MLB Mike Maslowski and DE Paul Spicer hadn't spent the season injured, it would look even better.
That, in a nutshell, is why I've enjoyed covering NFL Europe since the league's second season in 1992. It's a "half-empty, half-full" situation. NFLE has never been a true "development" league, like minor league baseball is. Most teams send players to Europe believing they can't play, challenging the player to convince them otherwise. In that sense, it's more like baseball's independent leagues, more like basketball's old CBA than the NBDL.
http://images.nfl.com/photos/img8283717.jpg Dante Hall starred for the Scottish Claymores in 2001 before making it big in Kansas City.
But it has produced results far more impressive than those leagues. Every time a Joe Andruzzi, who battled in Scotland for relative chump change, signs a $9 million contract, it makes me glad I watched him when no one knew who he was. I recall Peter Vaas, then coaching Berlin, telling me that Brian Waters maybe wasn't the best center in the league in 2000, but he was one of the best players, and would be a solid NFL player sooner rather than later. Now's he an All-Pro guard.
The public notices Europe when someone like Kurt Warner, or Brad Johnson, or Jake Delhomme, takes their team all the way to the Super Bowl. They pay attention for a minute, then continue to ignore, or worse, denigrate the league's contributions to the NFL. It's frustrating, but that's balanced by the pleasure of knowing the answer when a Dante Hall bursts on the scene and the commentators ask, "Where did this guy come from?!"
2005 is no exception. Off the field, the league once again survived by the skin of its teeth at the owners' meetings, but given salary-cap pressures, the value of filling a roster spot with a player on minimum salary who has proven he can play easily can make the investment profitable. Five teams now are based in Germany, a growth area for football (ask the Buffalo Bills about Contantin Ritzman) where new city Hamburg has drawn as many as 20,000 fans for games in the German amateur league.
On the field, the story remains the same. This year a big-name star, Akili Smith, tries to resurrect an underachieving NFL career, while a Heisman Trophy winning quarterback, Eric Crouch, tries to prove he can play in the secondary. At the other end of the scale is a guy so unknown I'd never even heard of his college: Green Bay's Mike Marker, from Milliken, assigned to Cologne.
But that's why I enjoy covering this league. Over the next few months, I'll try to share my enthusiasm with you, identify the next Marco Rivera or La'Roi Glover, and maybe speculate on whether or not the guys in Europe can help your NFL team. We'll start March 18 in Tampa, where preseason training is probably the most relaxed football you'll find anywhere -- for everyone but the players!
WR -- Marcus Robinson, Brian Finneran, Dane Looker, Chris Horn
WR/KR -- Dante Hall, Michael Lewis
TE -- Jed Weaver, Ryan Neufeld, Ben Steele
T -- Barry Sims, Matt Lepsis, Barry Stokes
G -- Brian Waters, Marco Rivera, Joe Andruzzi
C -- Ben Hamilton, Andy McCallum
QB -- Jake Delhomme, Kurt Warner, Kelly Holcomb
RB -- Aaron Stecker, Maurice Hicks, Jamal Robertson
FB -- Obafemi Ayanbadejo, Josh Parry
Defense
DE -- Marques Douglas, Carl Powell, Bobby Hamilton, Gary Stills
DT -- LaRoi Glover, Kelly Gregg, Keith Traylor, Brandon Noble
LB -- Keith Adams, Nate Wayne, Donnie Spragan, Fred Jones, Brandon Ayanbadejo, Tim Johnson
CB -- Kelly Herndon, Corey Ivy, Todd Franz
S -- Nick Ferguson, Deke Cooper, Chris Young
PK -- Adam Vinatieri or David Akers
P -- Brian Moorman or Scott Player
ST -- Sean Morey, Steve Gleason
You'd probably say it lacks a game-breaking runner, a No. 1 wideout, a cover corner: it's light at what are usually called "skill" positions, but are really more the "natural talent" positions, where the successful pros come from the top of the draft, and where no amount of coaching replaces essential size or speed.
You've probably guessed that this team consists solely of players from NFL Europe. Thus it's loaded with late-round picks, street free agents, and projects who switched positions, but with six or seven Pro Bowl selections it still looks pretty respectable, and if MLB Mike Maslowski and DE Paul Spicer hadn't spent the season injured, it would look even better.
That, in a nutshell, is why I've enjoyed covering NFL Europe since the league's second season in 1992. It's a "half-empty, half-full" situation. NFLE has never been a true "development" league, like minor league baseball is. Most teams send players to Europe believing they can't play, challenging the player to convince them otherwise. In that sense, it's more like baseball's independent leagues, more like basketball's old CBA than the NBDL.
http://images.nfl.com/photos/img8283717.jpg Dante Hall starred for the Scottish Claymores in 2001 before making it big in Kansas City.
But it has produced results far more impressive than those leagues. Every time a Joe Andruzzi, who battled in Scotland for relative chump change, signs a $9 million contract, it makes me glad I watched him when no one knew who he was. I recall Peter Vaas, then coaching Berlin, telling me that Brian Waters maybe wasn't the best center in the league in 2000, but he was one of the best players, and would be a solid NFL player sooner rather than later. Now's he an All-Pro guard.
The public notices Europe when someone like Kurt Warner, or Brad Johnson, or Jake Delhomme, takes their team all the way to the Super Bowl. They pay attention for a minute, then continue to ignore, or worse, denigrate the league's contributions to the NFL. It's frustrating, but that's balanced by the pleasure of knowing the answer when a Dante Hall bursts on the scene and the commentators ask, "Where did this guy come from?!"
2005 is no exception. Off the field, the league once again survived by the skin of its teeth at the owners' meetings, but given salary-cap pressures, the value of filling a roster spot with a player on minimum salary who has proven he can play easily can make the investment profitable. Five teams now are based in Germany, a growth area for football (ask the Buffalo Bills about Contantin Ritzman) where new city Hamburg has drawn as many as 20,000 fans for games in the German amateur league.
On the field, the story remains the same. This year a big-name star, Akili Smith, tries to resurrect an underachieving NFL career, while a Heisman Trophy winning quarterback, Eric Crouch, tries to prove he can play in the secondary. At the other end of the scale is a guy so unknown I'd never even heard of his college: Green Bay's Mike Marker, from Milliken, assigned to Cologne.
But that's why I enjoy covering this league. Over the next few months, I'll try to share my enthusiasm with you, identify the next Marco Rivera or La'Roi Glover, and maybe speculate on whether or not the guys in Europe can help your NFL team. We'll start March 18 in Tampa, where preseason training is probably the most relaxed football you'll find anywhere -- for everyone but the players!