Steelers MMQB: NFL Offseason News

What We Learned This Week in the NFL Offseason:

NFL looking for New Director of Investigations
Dan Quinn was joking about giving Herschel Walker a chance
Adrian Peterson still believes he’s the NFL’s top RB
Emmanuel Sanders doesn’t think the Pats deserved to be in the Super Bowl
Steelers Todd Haley ranks in Top 5 NFL Coordinators

We’ve got just about less than a month to go before NFL training camps open but don’t think the NFL news cycle has slowed down in the least bit. This time of the year is where you’ll find the most rankings and predictions. Then there are always the lingering contract talks that still won’t go away till they’re resolved.

CSI: National Football League

The NFL is looking for their David Caruso to pull up on the many sticky situations the league finds themselves in these days, take his sunglasses off and deliver a masterful one-liner about how the “monster” is not going to get away with this.

I’m not even joking. They’ve listed the job opening on Indee.com as well as their home site.

Some of the job descriptions include straight from their posting on Indeed.com:

I’d suggest Detective Olivia Benson for the job. She can shake down some perps and handle an investigation. She’d probably be able to get Brady to turn over his cell phone and everything.

Just kidding

Last week, a 53-year-old Herschel Walker said that he felt he could still play in the NFL. In response, Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn responded that “we’d have room for him” sparking speculation across the league as to the possibility of a 53-year-old NFL player joining a team’s roster.

Quinn clarified his remarks via ESPN.

"“Look, what I said about Herschel being one of my all-time favorite players is true, but nobody should take seriously what I said about having room on the team for him.” – Dan Quinn"

Looks like he should have added a “lolz” “j/k” or the ever effective, winky-face emoticon to his statement if he didn’t want it to be taken seriously.

AP still the best?

Last week we realized just how much stock you can put into the NFL Network’s Top 100 players annual ranking given the fact that very few NFL players are actually involved in the voting process, despite how it’s advertised. One player giving way too much credence to the ranking is Vikings running back Adrian Peterson.

Peterson dropped 58 spots to the No. 62 ranking for the 2015 edition in spite of missing the majority of the season. He seems to think it’s validation that he’s still the best running back in the NFL.

It’s great to have confidence and there’s no question that Peterson is going to be playing this season with a huge chip on his shoulder after failing to manufacture a trade for himself and also failing at making himself appear to be a sympathetic figure. But to base your status off of an arbitrary ranking is kind of silly.

Sanders at it again

It seems as though former Steelers wide receiver, now with the Denver Broncos, Emmanuel Sanders just can’t help himself when it comes to letting his words get him into hot water. He may be able to turn this into a post-football career similar to the way Ryan Clark did.

In speaking to a bunch of kids at a football camp Sanders was asked if he was upset about the deflated balls used by the Patriots. He responded probably appropriately for talking to a bunch of kids, but nevertheless his words will be spread around and dissected anyway.

"“Am I mad about Deflategate? I feel like I’m on ESPN with that question. …Yeah, yeah I’m kind of mad. I don’t think that they should be the Super Bowl champion this year. You aren’t supposed to cheat. Cheating is not good, especially when you’ve got guys who are working their butts off for 365 days out of the year and one person cheats – whether it helps them win the Super Bowl or not, they still cheated and shouldn’t be a champion.” – Emmanuel Sanders"

The message here – that cheating is bad – isn’t a bad one to tell kids at a football camp. The quote, however, is going to follow Sanders around for a while.

Todd Haley; best OC in the NFL?

This story is surely going to send those Steelers fans who think Todd Haley will be the downfall of Ben Roethlisberger, the Pittsburgh Steelers and all of humanity into a tailspin. NFL Media Analyst, Bucky Brooks ranked the top 20 coordinators across the NFL. He ranked the top offensive coordinators, defensive coordinators, and gave an overall ranking.

Pittsburgh Steelers Offensive Coordinator Todd Haley came in as the third best offensive coordinator in the league. He also came in as the fifth best overall coordinator.

"“The volatile assistant can rub some players wrong with his demanding ways, but there is no disputing his effectiveness as a play caller, scheme designer and talent developer. He has a knack for getting prime production out of young players while also crafting schemes that drive defensive coordinators nuts.” – Bucky Brooks"

Put whatever credence you want into this ranking. The Steelers have, whether anyone wants to admit it or not, improved offensively over the last three years since Haley’s hire. The one point I can’t get over of this ranking that has nothing to do with Haley is how in the hell does anybody rank Norv Turner high on any ranking besides, “Most horrible ineffective coaches/coordinators of all time”?

Next: Steelers Fantasty: Would you take Bell No. 1?