Broncos place Stokley on IR, cut 10, trade for TE Gronkowski
Football Betting Lines
09/04/2010 - Englewood, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wide receiver Brandon Stokley was placed on season-ending injured reserve Saturday, with the Broncos also cutting 10 players and dealing for Detroit Lions tight end Dan Gronkowski to reduce the roster to 53 players.
Stokley, an 11-year NFL veteran who caught 108 passes with the Broncos over the past three seasons (2007-09), had been hampered in the preseason by an injured groin. Outside linebacker Elvis Dumervil (torn pectoral) was also officially placed on injured reserve Saturday.
Released from the roster were linebacker Kevin Alexander, tight end Marquez Branson, wide receiver Britt Davis, tight end Riar Geer, defensive end Jarvis Green, safety Kyle McCarthy, offensive lineman Seth Olsen, linebacker Darrell Reid, defensive lineman Jeff Stehle and linebacker Worrell Williams.
Notables among that group include Green, an eight-year veteran with the New England Patriots (2002-09) who was signed in the offseason, and the five-year vet Reid, who appeared in all 16 games with the Broncos in 2009.
Gronkowski, who appeared in two games as a member of the Lions last year, will help shore up the tight end position for Denver. The University of Maryland product made his lone catch of the 2009 season in a loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 13.
The deal that brought Gronkowski to Denver also sent cornerback Alphonso Smith to Detroit. Smith, a second-round draft choice of the Broncos last year, played in 15 games in 2009 but had fallen out of favor with the coaching staff during a mediocre preseason.
Denver will begin its regular season next Sunday, when it travels to meet the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Hampton, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kasey Kahne will start on the pole for Saturday's Great Clips Nationwide Series race after posting the quickest lap in qualifying at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Kahne turned a lap of 181.479 m.p.h. ar
<< Ravens release 15, including QB Smith, K Graham; Reed to PUP
Owings Mills, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Ravens released quarterback
Troy Smith and kicker Shayne Graham on Saturday, also placing safety Ed Reed on
the Physically Unable to Perform List to highlight a slew of "cut-down day"
maneuvers.
<< Thames' tie-breaking homer pushes Yanks past Jays
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marcus Thames clubbed a two-run homer to snap a
seventh-inning tie, lifting the New York Yankees to a 7-5 victory over the
Toronto Blue Jays in the second of a three-game series at Yankee Stadium.
Robinson
<< Federer, Soderling reach fourth round in Flushing
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Five-time champion Roger Federer
and two-time French Open runner-up Robin Soderling were easy third-round
winners Saturday at the U.S. Open.
The second-seeded former No. 1 Federer cruised past capab
<< Nesbitt leads Georgia Tech in season-opening rout
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Nesbitt ran for 130 yards and three
touchdowns, as the 16th-ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets opened the 2010
season by trouncing South Carolina State, 41-10, at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
Roddy Jones
Canonsburg, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Geoffrey Sisk carded a two-under 69 Saturday to maintain his two-stroke lead after three rounds of the Mylan Classic. Sisk, who played the final three holes of his second round earlier Saturday, completed 5
Steelers trim 11 to finish cuts, including center Hartwig >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Center Justin Hartwig, a 16-game starter for
the Pittsburgh Steelers over the past two seasons, was among the prominent
players cut as part of the team's final "cut-down day" maneuvers on Saturday.
Hartwig e
Arnaud leads Kansas City to draw at Philadelphia >>
Chester, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Davy Arnaud scored in the 70th minute and the
Kansas City Wizards tied the Philadelphia Union, 1-1, on Saturday afternoon in
Major League Soccer at PPL Park.
Arnaud had a goal and an assist last week to lead
Jets release 21, including LB Satele >>
Florham Park, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rookie linebacker Brashton Satele, one of
the roster hopefuls chronicled on HBO's "Hard Knocks" television series this
summer, was among the players released Saturday as the New York Jets trimmed
their roster
Pickens: Gundy's done a good job at Oklahoma St. >>
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) -Prominent Oklahoma State booster T. Boone Pickens says he's pleased with the performance of football coach Mike Gundy and is predicting an eight-win season for the Cowboys.Pickens spoke Saturday before Oklahoma State hosted W
FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million
In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.
And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.
Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.
So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.
Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)
The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.
As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.
The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.
In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.
Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.
And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.
So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.
There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.
So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.
And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.
There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)
Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.
Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.
Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.
So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.
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