Buffalo
May 16, 2008   

Bills said to be 'mortified' over Hardy's alleged gun incident

Despite rookie WR James Hardy’s recent brush with the law, the Bills don’t have buyer’s remorse over investing their second-round pick in him. “But they sure have buyer’s embarrassment,” one team insider told PFW. The former Indiana star allegedly pulled a gun on his father in the backyard of a woman’s house in Hardy’s hometown of Fort Wayne, Ind., last weekend, and the homeowner who witnessed the incident immediately called the police. Because Hardy’s father, who shares his son’s first and last name, didn’t have any bodily harm — not to mention the fact that both father and son have dismissed the issue as an insignificant confrontation that was misinterpreted by the witness — the police have reportedly ended the investigation. But that’s not to say the Bills aren’t “mortified” about the allegation. Hardy was red-flagged by many teams as a having character issues during the pre-draft evaluation process, largely stemming from a May 2006 arrest of domestic battery for allegedly attacking his girlfriend and their infant son. But the Bills saw enough contrition in his owning up to the incident to go ahead and select him with the 41st overall pick. “When this latest incident happened, it was like a slap in the face,” the insider said. Already this offseason, the Bills have seen WR-PR Roscoe Parrish get arrested for drunken driving and DE Anthony Hargrove get suspended for the upcoming season for repeated violations of the league’s personal conduct policies.

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Miami
May 16, 2008   

Former Cowboys to make immediate splash in Miami

It didn’t take long after the hiring of executive VP of football operations Bill Parcells, GM Jeff Ireland and coach Tony Sparano for the Dolphins to start overhauling their roster. With the trio all coming over from Dallas, many of the personnel changes included replacing incumbents with Cowboys players the new regime knows well. The way we hear it, the coaches’ and front office’s comfort with the former Cowboys will give them a decided upper-hand in position battles in training camp. Although it’s far from a guarantee, one source close to the club said that three ex-Cowboys — TE Anthony Fasano, ILB Akin Ayodele and NT Jason Ferguson — are odds-on favorites to win starting gigs, and that CB Nate Jones and S Keith Davis are squarely in the mix. Parcells has long been known to favor guys he's familiar with, and that preference has trickled down to his coaches.

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New England
May 14, 2008   

Courting of Jones a sign that Patriots harbor doubts about Maroney

Following a sterling end to his season, it appeared as though RB Laurence Maroney had finally earned the confidence of the Patriots’ coaches to be the featured bell cow in the backfield. Just days ago, though, New England hosted RB Kevin Jones on a visit to Foxborough, which we're told is a sign that coach Bill Belichick still doesn’t fully trust Maroney. Belichick was critical of Maroney’s toughness during the middle portions of the season, believing he took a gratuitously long time recovering from a groin ailment. The Patriots coveted Jones when he was coming out of Virginia Tech in 2004 and were poised to pick him at No. 32 before the Lions took him 30th. The question as to whether he’ll be signed will be dependent on whether he’s given the green light by New England’s medical staff. Jones was cut by Detroit because of concern over his torn anterior cruciate ligament, and if similar doubts are cast by the Pats’ doctors, then New England will forge ahead with a Maroney/Kevin Faulk/Sammy Morris RB trio.

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NY Jets
May 14, 2008   

Jets won't tolerate more plodding performances from RB Jones

Some saw the Jets’ decision not to draft a running back as evidence that the team is willing to give RB Thomas Jones a mulligan on his uninspiring first season in the Big Apple. The way we hear it, that’s not entirely accurate. Although he may well get a second chance at the starting job, the Jets are, in fact, peeved with Jones’ inability to get on track in ’07 — a season that netted him 1,119 yards on a whopping 310 carries (a dismal 3.6 average) and just a single touchdown — and are quite willing to give diminutive scatback Leon Washington and free-agent acquisition Jesse Chatman larger roles in the offense. However, it bears mentioning that the Jets should boast a considerably better run-blocking offensive line in ’08 after bringing aboard OLG Alan Faneca and ORT Damien Woody, and we hear there’s a strong feeling in Jets camp that Jones is their best option at running back when a strong line is in place. Jones is a tough runner to bring down when able to generate downhill momentum, whereas Washington, with his tremendous speed and wiggle, is more adept at creating on his own when his line fails to open consistent holes.

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