Windy City Gridiron - Being who you thought we were since 2005!

NFL and NFLRA looking at text, expect to sign tonight or early am. There will be a regular referee union crew in Baltimore Thursday night.

James Laurinaitis gets license to be Rams' leader on defense.

once a GATOR always a GATOR I loved everything the U of florida gave me

Several teams at the top of the draft are debating the potential of moving Eric Berry from safety to cornerback after closely studying him on film and in workouts...

3. Mark Richt

Richt has had one bad season in nearly a decade at Georgia. The Bulldogs continue to collect talent — nearly 20 players have been good enough to leave early for the NFL this decade. That said, Richt had better have a good season in 2010. As the dean of SEC coaches, he’s becoming stale in Athens and fans are starting to wonder if someone else might be able to do a Saban-like number on Georgia. (The fear should be that someone might do a Kiffin-like number on Georgia.) If Todd Grantham is the answer at defensive coordinator, the Bulldogs could return to previous form.

You heard it here 1st: NFL will try to rip off NHL Classic vibe by playing Super Bowl XLIV as game of 2-hand touch in some dude's back yard.

Bring in Urban Meyer with him and run that style of offense if he's going to be your quarterback, because he can't play in a pro-style offense.

It doesn't matter what, outside this locker room, they're saying about this team. We make our own reality in work, the way we practice, the way we prepare, and the way we play on game day. So people can continue to talk about us in the negative. That's fine. We don't believe in that.

A little cross promotion here. Today is the first day of training camp for the New York Giants, and you guys all know I am a contributor on Big Blue View, SBNation's site for them. Ed Valentine was granted media credentials for training camp and has hit the ground running with updates, make sure you check it out.

Inevitably, it all comes down to this; Alphonso Smith is one of the top college CBs of the past decade - and beyond. He's set records, disheartened opponents, has football intelligence, experience at playing quarterback that he translates into his cornerback position, and possesses playing speed and timing that are other-worldly.

But he's 5'9" (and change). To some, that's the kiss of doom in the pros. To others, it's a fact of life that has a relatively small impact in correlation to the other factors present. To McDaniels, it was a simple decision. He had four #1 picks over the next two years, and he chose to use three of them this year. He felt that Smith was a consensus 1st-round pick and that given what they saw in their copious film on him, that he was worth the pick. It was worth it in part because by doing it this way, they got a full year's experience from a player, and it made the player one year closer to being ready to start in the NFL. He used it, and that's the end of that part of the story. Whether you support it or not - it's done.