BouncingCheese
Stay out of my Bidness
- Messages
- 1,704
- Reaction score
- 0
Gado's absence not a bad one
By Adam Schefter
NFL Analyst
( I know it is a fluff piece, but I think it is apropos considering we have vets missing camp for reasons that suddenly seem really irrelevant and unworthy:bang2: )
(June 7, 2007) -- Some players miss offseason conditioning drills because they want a new contract. Others are unhappy with the direction of their teams. But Houston running back Samkon Gado has the greatest excuse in National Football League history.
Gado missed four weeks of conditioning drills in Houston's training facility because he has been ... studying for his medical boards.
Samkon Gado is after more than just touchdowns this offseason. There's a sentence that might never have been written before, ever.
Gado is scheduled to take the MCATs July 13 in Columbia, S.C., with the hopes of becoming an orthopedic surgeon after his football career.
"I wanted to take the MCATs in May," Gado said Thursday, "but when I saw the size of our playbook, I pushed it back to July."
Texans head coach Gary Kubiak has been as accommodating as he needs to be for Gado, who is one of the great men in the NFL. Essentially, in Gado he trusts. It also has helped that Gado has put himself through his own rigorous workouts in South Carolina, when he wasn't studying three hours a day for the MCATs.
"This is the best shape I've ever been in," Gado said. "I promise you, I wasn't sitting around South Carolina just studying and doing nothing. Now that I'm back here training, it's like I'm taking a break."
Upon returning to Houston, Gado also has been reunited with his former Packers teammate Ahman Green, one of the Texans' two high-priced, high-profile acquistions.
"As soon as he came in, I called him and said, 'Man, I'm trying to start a career here, leave me alone!'" Gado joked. "No, I love Ahman. I told him that it's a blessing to have him here. I don't say that because I'm supposed to. I say that because I mean it. Anything that he has done I want to do because I want to have the success in this league that he has."
Gado's success goes beyond the league. He is a student of the game, and of medicine, which he began learning about when he was a pre-med major at Liberty University. Gado will face plenty of tests in training camp. But no test will be bigger than the one he faces July 13.
A BROWN OUT?
After trading running back Thomas Jones and considering dealing linebacker Lance Briggs, the Chicago Bears now are shopping defensive end Alex Brown. There are no shortage of suitors.
Already three teams -- the Kansas City Chiefs, Seattle Seahawks and Tennessee Titans -- each have expressed an interest.
Kansas City needs another defensive end to help replace Jared Allen, who has been suspended for the first four games of the coming season and is playing on a one-year, $2.5 million contract.
Seattle is searching for another defensive end to pair opposite of its high-priced free-agent acquistion, Patrick Kerney.
And Tennessee needs someone to team with defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch, who is used to seeing way too many double teams in Music City.
But the fact that three teams are investigating whether they appease the Bears' trade demands and Brown's contract demands shows that there is a market for the defensive end's services, and Chicago could have its choice of places to deal a defensive end that has had at least 5 1/2 sacks in each of the past four seasons. Either way, an offseason of trades could have at least one more.
CORNERING THE MARKET
When it comes to free agency, the Commanders do not have a reputation of being spendthrifts. But check out what they did Thursday.
More than three years after they signed restricted free-agent cornerback Jerametrius Butler to a six-year, $15.04 million offer sheet that included a $4 million signing bonus that the St. Louis Rams matched, the Commanders signed Butler on Thursday to a one-year, veteran-minimum, $595,000 contract.
They now will get Butler's services this season at a considerably cheaper rate than they would have had he been playing under the offer sheet that they signed him to, which was due to pay him $2 million in base salary this season.
Also, Butler becomes the latest addition to a position in which the Commanders have hoarded players this offseason. Already the Commanders have signed former Vikings cornerback Fred Smoot, former Cardinals cornerback David Macklin and now former Rams cornerback Butler, who was cut earlier this week after starting 31 games in St. Louis.
Washington knows a team never can have enough quality cornerbacks and with Shawn Springs and Carlos Rogers also in Washington, the Commanders have loaded up.
THE MEDICAL ON MERIWEATHER
Patriots coach Bill Belichick would rather coach in another Pro Bowl than discuss the whereabouts of any of his missing players. But Patriots first-round draft pick Brandon Meriweather was not on the field at minicamp this week due to a hamstring injury.
Meriwhether injured his hamstring over three weeks ago and the Patriots have been extremely careful about not rushing him back on to the field. They held him out of this week's minicamp, though Meriweather was in the team's training facility going through rehab.
One reason the Patriots are being so cautious with Meriweather is that they do not want to see a repeat of last year, when second-round draft pick Chad Jackson suffered a hamstring injury early on that lingered throughout the season. Jackson never seemed to be able to get back to full speed, and New England wants to ensure that it gives Meriwhether every opportunity to get healthy as soon as possible so that it can use him at safety, often covering the other team's slot receiver.
And here's a matchup to watch that was cooked up on draft day. The Patriots drafted Meriweather to cover slot receivers and the Colts' first-round pick was slot receiver Anthony Gonzalez. The Patriots and Colts have had some great showdowns recently, and Meriweather and Gonzalez could wind up having some as early as this season.
NFL Analyst
( I know it is a fluff piece, but I think it is apropos considering we have vets missing camp for reasons that suddenly seem really irrelevant and unworthy:bang2: )
(June 7, 2007) -- Some players miss offseason conditioning drills because they want a new contract. Others are unhappy with the direction of their teams. But Houston running back Samkon Gado has the greatest excuse in National Football League history.
Gado missed four weeks of conditioning drills in Houston's training facility because he has been ... studying for his medical boards.
Gado is scheduled to take the MCATs July 13 in Columbia, S.C., with the hopes of becoming an orthopedic surgeon after his football career.
"I wanted to take the MCATs in May," Gado said Thursday, "but when I saw the size of our playbook, I pushed it back to July."
Texans head coach Gary Kubiak has been as accommodating as he needs to be for Gado, who is one of the great men in the NFL. Essentially, in Gado he trusts. It also has helped that Gado has put himself through his own rigorous workouts in South Carolina, when he wasn't studying three hours a day for the MCATs.
"This is the best shape I've ever been in," Gado said. "I promise you, I wasn't sitting around South Carolina just studying and doing nothing. Now that I'm back here training, it's like I'm taking a break."
Upon returning to Houston, Gado also has been reunited with his former Packers teammate Ahman Green, one of the Texans' two high-priced, high-profile acquistions.
"As soon as he came in, I called him and said, 'Man, I'm trying to start a career here, leave me alone!'" Gado joked. "No, I love Ahman. I told him that it's a blessing to have him here. I don't say that because I'm supposed to. I say that because I mean it. Anything that he has done I want to do because I want to have the success in this league that he has."
Gado's success goes beyond the league. He is a student of the game, and of medicine, which he began learning about when he was a pre-med major at Liberty University. Gado will face plenty of tests in training camp. But no test will be bigger than the one he faces July 13.
A BROWN OUT?
After trading running back Thomas Jones and considering dealing linebacker Lance Briggs, the Chicago Bears now are shopping defensive end Alex Brown. There are no shortage of suitors.
Already three teams -- the Kansas City Chiefs, Seattle Seahawks and Tennessee Titans -- each have expressed an interest.
Kansas City needs another defensive end to help replace Jared Allen, who has been suspended for the first four games of the coming season and is playing on a one-year, $2.5 million contract.
Seattle is searching for another defensive end to pair opposite of its high-priced free-agent acquistion, Patrick Kerney.
And Tennessee needs someone to team with defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch, who is used to seeing way too many double teams in Music City.
But the fact that three teams are investigating whether they appease the Bears' trade demands and Brown's contract demands shows that there is a market for the defensive end's services, and Chicago could have its choice of places to deal a defensive end that has had at least 5 1/2 sacks in each of the past four seasons. Either way, an offseason of trades could have at least one more.
CORNERING THE MARKET
When it comes to free agency, the Commanders do not have a reputation of being spendthrifts. But check out what they did Thursday.
More than three years after they signed restricted free-agent cornerback Jerametrius Butler to a six-year, $15.04 million offer sheet that included a $4 million signing bonus that the St. Louis Rams matched, the Commanders signed Butler on Thursday to a one-year, veteran-minimum, $595,000 contract.
They now will get Butler's services this season at a considerably cheaper rate than they would have had he been playing under the offer sheet that they signed him to, which was due to pay him $2 million in base salary this season.
Also, Butler becomes the latest addition to a position in which the Commanders have hoarded players this offseason. Already the Commanders have signed former Vikings cornerback Fred Smoot, former Cardinals cornerback David Macklin and now former Rams cornerback Butler, who was cut earlier this week after starting 31 games in St. Louis.
Washington knows a team never can have enough quality cornerbacks and with Shawn Springs and Carlos Rogers also in Washington, the Commanders have loaded up.
THE MEDICAL ON MERIWEATHER
Patriots coach Bill Belichick would rather coach in another Pro Bowl than discuss the whereabouts of any of his missing players. But Patriots first-round draft pick Brandon Meriweather was not on the field at minicamp this week due to a hamstring injury.
Meriwhether injured his hamstring over three weeks ago and the Patriots have been extremely careful about not rushing him back on to the field. They held him out of this week's minicamp, though Meriweather was in the team's training facility going through rehab.
One reason the Patriots are being so cautious with Meriweather is that they do not want to see a repeat of last year, when second-round draft pick Chad Jackson suffered a hamstring injury early on that lingered throughout the season. Jackson never seemed to be able to get back to full speed, and New England wants to ensure that it gives Meriwhether every opportunity to get healthy as soon as possible so that it can use him at safety, often covering the other team's slot receiver.
And here's a matchup to watch that was cooked up on draft day. The Patriots drafted Meriweather to cover slot receivers and the Colts' first-round pick was slot receiver Anthony Gonzalez. The Patriots and Colts have had some great showdowns recently, and Meriweather and Gonzalez could wind up having some as early as this season.
