Hobbs' NFL career could end after another neck injury.


After suffering a helmet-to-helmet hit against the New York Giants that left him motionless on the field for over 10 minutes, Ellis Hobbs is expected to undergo his second neck surgery in the same calendar year.

And according to the sources ESPN's Adam Schefter has spoken to, Hobbs would prefer this be his very last and has seriously contemplated retirement.

"There's a good chance of that [Hobbs retiring]," a source told Shefter Saturday.

Another source told Schefter that "if Hobbs had to make a decision today, he would retire." But, like Schefter notes, Hobbs has been advised to take his time and not rush a decision. It's understandable why he'd be ready to walk away from the game right now, but given the success of the surgery and his recovery, it's possible he could return next season.

Garry Cobb of GCobb.com said last week that he believes Hobbs should retire before suffering any life-altering injuries.

"This is solely my opinion," Cobb writes, "but if I had damage to a disc in my neck and back area, which has to involve the spinal column, I would retire immediately. If he’s looking at things clearly, Hobbs should retire rather than risk being paralyzed."

It's hard to argue with that reasoning, but football players do what they do because they're some of the toughest (and hard-headed) people on the planet. There are a lot of guys who keep playing when their knees have basically eroded away or they can't move their shoulder or they're permanently dizzy from concussions because football is all they know.

But that's an argument coming from a former player, so to say he would retire immediately if given the same situation has to carry some weight.

I don't think anyone would blame Hobbs either way. If he walked away from the game, everyone would understand. He's going to be a free agent at the end of the season and it might be difficult to get a team to take a chance on him. He might just figure now is the time to walk away.

Conversely, I don't believe anyone would look down on him for wanting to come back, either.

We likely won't get any confirmation one way or the other until deep in the offseason, but right now it looks like Hobbs' playing career is over.
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Hopefully Tapp can handle Marc Colombo like this.


News came out a couple days ago that only a few hours after the trade had taken place, the Eagles and brand new acquisition Darryl Tapp had an extension in place. No one knew the numbers, but now it appears Adam Schefter (surprise, surprise) has them.

"For those scoring at home: Eagles gave newly-acquired DE Darryl Tapp a three-year, $9 million deal that includes a $3 million signing bonus," Schefter tweets. Personally, I love Schefter not only for his fantastic inside news, but his tweets are actually in English.

There's no word as to whether or not the signing bonus will be paid out this year, or whether it will be prorated through the life of the contract, but it doesn't really matter. If Tapp actually becomes an effective starter, it will be an incredible value for the Birds.

While I still believe the Eagles overpaid for Tapp, it appears as though Seahawks fans don't feel the same way. After talking to a few of them, they believe that Tapp was misused in Seattle and that Pete Carrol is actually the one who got fleeced in the move.

Reports are coming out that Tapp apparently had 18 quarterback hits, a stat unofficially kept by a few third-party organizations, so there's no way to be sure of its validity. If that is a true stat, however, it would mean that a lot of those would have been sacks were it not for poor coverage in the secondary.

Again, who knows whether or not it's a legitimate stat, but it would certainly make Eagles fans a bit more easy.

Tapp is only 25 and will apparently be very cheap, so the move has a lot of upside, but I think I speak for most Eagles fans when I say I'm sick of the Eagles moving laterally. I have a track record of backing their decisions, but I see them only plugging holes rather than trying to solidify them.

I wouldn't go into a ship with holes fixed with scotch tape, but that's what the Eagles are doing.

Okay, perhaps with the benefit of the doubt they're using duct tape, but the point is clear. They need to make some moves in the draft and get some guys who can contribute immediately or they're looking at another early playoff exit.
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Maclin certainly isn't helping himself with all this missed time.


Adam Schefter is reporting via Twitter that after speaking with some people in the Eagles organization, he believes the deal could be done within 72 hours.

"Good news Philly: After talking more with Eagles, deal for WR Jeremy Maclin is closer than (I) thought. I predict one within 72 hours - mayb..."

Good news? Am I the only one who does not see this as "good news?"

It's certainly not good news that this will take perhaps another three days, leaving him to come back Wednesday and only get about a week and a half of training camp under his belt heading into his rookie season. Training camp is unbelievably important, and three days is better than nothing, but he should be in there right now. He's already missed too much time.

This has also been the report since the beginning of camp. Even before camp there was a report (some crazy people telling us that he already signed) that he had signed a 6-year, $23 million deal. Obviously, that was not the case and those people had some faulty sources (Thank you, very much "The Columns," a Mizzou blog).

Everyone keeps saying he'll sign within the next 24 hours, he'll sign in the next 72 hours, and everything in between. But, obviously, that has yet to happen.

If I had to guess, I would guess that it's the length and probably the incentives that are holding this deal up. The number 20 and the number 17 picks are signed, so it shouldn't be real difficult to figure out where Maclin's numbers should be. Also, don't forget that he's the last Eagles rookie, so they have limited money for him anyway.

Given those facts, it's easy to figure that it's things like the length and incentives. The Eagles probably want him to sign a five or six-year deal, but Maclin probably only wants a three or four-year deal because he's seen how the Eagles operate and figures that he'll outperform his contract very soon (which is a good thing for Philly).

Something tells me that we still have a few days of this back and forth reporting to deal with, and that when it finally does get settled we'll learn that it was over a year difference, or a couple thousand difference in incentives.
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