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The appeal of NFL-imposed cap reductions to the Washington Redskins ($36 million) and Dallas Cowboys ($10 million) has ended. Arbitrator Stephen Burbank dismissed their claims today -- for reasons described below -- and the teams have raised the white flag, issuing a joint statement accepting the decision. Interestingly, the two NFL owners who enjoy a good fight the most -- Jerry Jones and Daniel Snyder -- have decided to go quietly here, choosing to use this as a chip for political capital down the road.

The NFL claimed the teams gained competitive advantage by maneuvering cap money into the uncapped 2010 year, clearing the deck for future spending without encumbrances from bloated contracts of Albert Haynesworth, DeAngelo Hall, Miles Austin and others. Were the teams given a chance to argue, they would have emphasized that there were no written warnings against their conduct, and that the contracts were approved upon submission to the NFL management council (NFLMC). However, they will have no such chance, as the case was dismissed.

Commissioner power

Burbank rejected the teams’ arguments that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was not authorized to act on behalf of the NFLMC, the unit of the NFL that gave strident verbal warnings about their cap maneuvers and suggested discipline. Burbank intimated -- but did not expressly hold -- that the articles and bylaws of the NFLMC contemplate the commissioner acting as an agent for them. Thus, the commissioner’s powers may extend past the playing field into the contract and cap decisions made by teams and their ownership.

NFLPA on board

The March 11 letter announcing the reduction (reallocation letter) was executed by both Goodell and NFLPA chief DeMaurice Smith. Smith was agreeable as long as league-wide cap room remained the same, with the $46 million reallocated to the other 28 teams (the Saints and Raiders were denied reallocation because of similar, but lesser violations). The union’s buy-in -- forged with assurances from the NFL that the team cap number in 2012 would not dip below that of 2011 -- was a factor in Burbank’s dismissal.

Teams on board

With the NFLPA signing off, the March 27 resolution by 29 NFL teams (the Bucs abstained) to ratify the reallocation letter became, in Burbank’s eyes, a valid amendment to the collective bargaining agreement. Therefore, the Cowboys’ and Redskins’ claims of unilateral changes in the cap and collusion by other teams were denied. The key line from the decision reads in part: “the March 27th Resolution effectively ratified the Reallocation Letter, which therefore is binding on the Redskins and Cowboys as an amendment to the CBA.”

Thus, Burbank essentially gave his blessing to two agreements that served to bind and penalize the Redskins and Cowboys without them being a party to either. Commissioner power is strengthened again, 28 teams have additional cap room, and the NFLPA protects its players’ cap room league-wide. Everyone is satisfied except, of course, those two owners.

Something tells me that -- although they are accepting the decision -- they won’t soon forget this episode.

The season-long suspension of New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma pretty much is unprecedented in the NFL.

There have been plenty of one-year suspensions (and some longer) for substance-abuse violations. But Vilma’s suspension ranks as one of the longest in history.

With help from the Associated Press, by way of ESPN Stats & Information, here’s a list of the longest non-substance-abuse suspensions in NFL history:

• Art Schlichter, Life, suspended 1 year for gambling in 1983, never reinstated
• Merle Hapes, 8 years, suspended for conversing with known gambler in 1946, reinstated in 1954
• Frank Filchock, 3 years, suspended for conversing with known gambler in 1947, reinstated in 1950
• Michael Vick, 2 years, 2 games, suspended indefinitely in 2007 after pleading guilty to role in dogfighting
• Plaxico Burress, 2 years, suspended for duration of jail term in 2009 after pleading guilty to criminal possession of a weapon
• Donte’ Stallworth, 1 year, suspended for 1 year after pleading guilty to DUI manslaughter in 2009
• Paul Hornung, 1 year, suspended 1 year for gambling in 1963
• Alex Karras, 1 year, suspended 1 year for gambling in 1963
• Adam Jones, 1 year, suspended 1 year for violating Personal Conduct Policy in 2007

Those suspensions all involved off-field actions. Here is the list of the longest NFL suspensions for on-field incidents:

• 2006: Albert Haynesworth suspended five games after stomping on head of Cowboys center Andre Gurode. Gurode was not wearing a helmet at the time.
• 2011: Ndamukong Suh suspended two games after stomping on right arm of Packers lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith.
• 1986: Charles Martin suspended two games for body-slamming Bears QB Jim McMahon to turf.

The fourth and sixth cornerbacks drafted in 2012 are heading to the St. Louis Rams.

Montana's Trumaine Johnson, chosen 65th overall and in the third round, joins second-round choice Janoris Jenkins (39th) in a rapidly evolving secondary.

Johnson has good size for a corner, standing 6-foot-2 and weighing 204 pounds. Scouts Inc. gave him high marks in all categories except intangibles and durability.

"Would benefit highly from a structured environment and demanding coach who will challenge him and hold him accountable," Pro Football Weekly's Nolan Nawrocki wrote. "Has the tools to become a No. 1 corner if he can be managed properly and stay focused."

The Rams are clearly leaning on coach Jeff Fisher and staff to provide the structure and coaching needed for Jenkins and Johnson to realize their potential. Fisher has worked with mercurial players in the past, from Albert Haynesworth to Pacman Jones to Vince Young and others. He'll need to be right on Jenkins and Johnson for the Rams to maximize their first draft class with Fisher as head coach.

We interrupt our regularly scheduled pre-draft hysteria to report a veteran player acquisition. Leave it to the New York Giants to treat this as a business-as-usual day, which they did by signing veteran defensive tackle Shaun Rogers. Rogers is a 33-year-old, 12-year NFL veteran who played every game last year for the New Orleans Saints.

The signing is interesting because of what it might say about the way the Giants feel about the younger defensive tackles they already had on the roster, including Linval Joseph and second-year man Marvin Austin, who missed his rookie season with an injury. Austin has been saying all the right things about working to get back on the field, but the Giants' recent hunt for a veteran at the same position (Mike Garafolo reports they were looking into Albert Haynesworth) indicates that they're not sure what they're going to get out of their holdover group.

Anyway, we all knew the Giants would find a way to come up with a defensive lineman today. It remains to be seen whether they'll draft one at 11:30 pm. As you know, they never believe they have too many.

Good and interesting insight in this story from Albert Breer on NFL.com about what, exactly, upset the other teams in the NFL about the way the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Redskins spent their money in the uncapped 2010 season. The NFL stripped the Redskins of $36 million and the Cowboys of $10 million in salary cap space over the next two years, and those two teams have filed a grievance against the league and the NFLPA to dispute the punishment. But to this point, it has remained unclear what, exactly, the other teams felt they did wrong.

Albert writes that, by structuring the contracts of Miles Austin, Albert Haynesworth and DeAngelo Hall in such a way as to inflate 2010 base salaries and save money in future years, the Cowboys and Redskins inflated the franchise-player numbers for wide receivers, defensive tackles and cornerbacks. As a result, the Chargers had a hard time keeping Vincent Jackson, the Ravens were handcuffed by the contract they wanted to give Haloti Ngata and the Bengals were unable to keep Johnathan Joseph. For example:

Austin's contract was instrumental in pushing the receiver number from $9.5 million in 2010 to $11.3 million in 2011. San Diego franchised Vincent Jackson at the latter number in 2011. The leverage Jackson gained from having an $11.4 million tender made him difficult to sign to a long-term deal, and the resulting 2012 franchise figure -- by rule, 120 percent of the previous number, which came out to $13.7 million -- made it even harder to tag him again for the club.

So San Diego, which likely would've tagged Jackson again if the number had been more affordable, let Jackson walk. He signed a five-year, $55.6 million contract with the Buccaneers this offseason.

Many thanks to Albert for shining some light on what, exactly, the other owners found wrong with the way the Cowboys and the Redskins behaved in a year that was supposed to have no spending restrictions. The Cowboys and Redskins are arguing that there was no rule against what they did, and while that may be true, Giants owner and NFL management committee chairman John Mara said last month that all teams were warned that they could be punished if they did what these two teams did.

But for a couple of reasons, I continue to believe the teams that are complaining about this are full of it. First of all, commissioner Roger Goodell said at the owners' meetings last month that the reason for the penalties was that the teams in question had attempted to gain a competitive advantage in future years through their 2010 actions. But what Albert writes (on the league's own web site) is something quite different. Albert's reporting indicates that the reason the other teams got upset at the Cowboys and the Redskins was because their actions required them to spend more money than they wanted to spend to pay their own players. And if that's the case, then the artificial, unwritten guidelines the owners tried to put in place to control spending during the uncapped year were not an effort to maintain future competitive balance (as they have claimed publicly), but rather clearly an attempt to control player salaries.

Furthermore, it's important to remember that there never would have been an uncapped 2010 season -- or any reason to cut backroom deals to regulate spending therein -- if the owners hadn't decided to lock out the players in 2011 in an effort to restructure the CBA in a manner more favorable to themselves. Had they negotiated in good faith prior to 2010, they could have put a new CBA in place that would have imposed a salary cap and clear spending rules for that season. But because they had decided long before to impose a lockout strategy and not negotiate until they had the players backed up against the wall, the 2010 season arrived without a salary cap, as the prior CBA said it must if it were to be the final league year.

The entire concept of the uncapped 2010 season was an avoidable mess of the owners' own making. The lockout was an unnecessary act of pure greed, as evidenced by a new CBA that solved almost none of the competitive-balance issues raised by small-market owners. And the idea that the teams could whisper together behind closed doors about acting as though there was a cap when there wasn't and expect every owner to go along with the plan is (and always was) utterly foolish. The salary cap penalties against the Cowboys and Redskins are part of the fallout from the clumsy way in which the NFL's owners executed their negotiating strategy, and I continue to see no common-sense reason why those teams shouldn't expect to get some sort of restitution from the arbitrator.

Bill Lubinger and Rich Exner of the Cleveland Plain Dealer put together a comprehensive free-agency scorecard.

They tracked what every team in the league has done from 2006-2011, and matched up winning percentages during that time.

That’s hardly scientific.

But all different kinds of signings count the same here.

• Signing defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth to a monster contract and getting minimal production, as Washington did.
• Signing a big free agent who gives you all you hoped for, as the Texans did with cornerback Johnathan Joseph, or the Jaguars did with Paul Posluszny.
• Signing a cheap guy you think can emerge, as the Titans did with defensive end Jason Babin, and getting fantastic production.
• Signing a player like defensive end Aaron Kampman, who the Jaguars have gotten minimal production from as he has dealt with knee injuries.

Still, it’s interesting to consider the list in totality.

Here’s how the AFC South placed:

Hat tip to Scott Kendrick of the Florida Times-Union blog.

Man, do I get LaRon Landry questions. Washington Redskins fans want to know if they're bringing him back. Dallas Cowboys fans want to know if they should sign him to play safety. Philadelphia Eagles fans want to know if they're taking a look. The answers, best as I can tell, are as follows:

No, no and only if it's really cheap. Landry is an injured player, folks. And if there's an early market for his services, it's because some team is willing to take a very big risk.

I guess Landry has fans' attention because he's a big name. And in spite of the fact that memories only go back six days in the NFL, there are some images still stuck in people's brains about big plays Landry used to make once upon a time when he was a healthy player. Oh yeah, when he's on the field, there are few safeties in the league scarier than Landry. There is no doubting that.

But the reason he's on the market -- and the reason the Redskins are talking to people like Brandon Meriweather while Landry is trying to get visits to other places -- is that he can't get on the field, and the Redskins are sick of wondering from week to week whether they can count on him. Hampered by Achilles and groin injuries, Landry played in eight games for the Redskins in 2011, was credited with just 35 tackles, no passes defensed and no interceptions. That doesn't scream, "Pay me!!!," especially when he played in only nine games the year before. The Achilles is still hurt, and he has refused to have surgery to repair it, which makes him an injured player, which explains why he's not on some big, happy tour of various team sites and sifting through huge contract offers.

So if you're a Redskins fan, you ought to say goodbye. The current coaching staff has had enough of waiting for Landry to show them what he can do -- and that he can do it reliably over the course of a full season. They have moved on. They used their franchise tag on Fred Davis instead and are looking at other options for the secondary.

And if you're a Cowboys fan, don't get your hopes up. The Cowboys don't appear to be going the big-name, low-production route this year. They're targeting guys they like for their specific need positions, and Brodney Pool is the safety coming in for a visit today.

And if you're an Eagles fan, keep expectations low. Yes, it's possible they'd take a look at Landry, but only if his price remains very low and he's willing to come in on a short, make-good deal that pays off only if he plays and produces. The Eagles have talented young safeties who need to play and develop, and while they might be willing to take a chance on Landry's talent, they're unlikely to do so at the expense of their long-range plan.

This post by AFC East blogger James Walker Wednesday says the Patriots and the Jets have some interest in Landry. It mentions the Eagles, too, at the bottom, but those two AFC East teams feel like more likely destinations. Rex Ryan loves him a big name, even if the production no longer matches up. You could see him taking a shot. And the Patriots? Well, Landry would feel like a very Patriot move. I could just imagine them signing him, late in the market, to a low-guarantee, high-incentive deal and everybody saying, "Wow, that Bill Belichick may have got himself a steal right there." You know. Like they said last year when he got Albert Haynesworth and Chad Ochocinco.

Fact is, whoever signs Landry may get themselves a steal, if he can finally stay healthy and put together a full season. But at this point, on the third day of free agency, with so many other healthier options available, it's hard to see how it's worth the risk. For anybody.

In earlier times, when Jeff Fisher was a primary power broker, the Titans were constantly accused of a failure to communicate.

Players on their way out often had hurt feelings when they didn’t get a phone call returned, didn’t get a straightforward explanation about where they stood.

I leaned toward defending the team. What can you say, really? You don’t want to back yourself into a corner in case circumstances change.

But the Titans have changed.

A team now headed by general manager Ruston Webster and coach Mike Munchak chose to operate differently with cornerback Cortland Finnegan.

They told him their plan: They won’t be offering him a contract. They are letting him go.

And so, as is human nature, Finnegan wants the next step, he wants more, he wants to know why.

Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean spoke with him:

“It is bittersweet,” Finnegan said. “For six years I played in the Titans organization. I am grateful and humbled that the Titans took a chance on me and the way they matured me over the years.

“But they wanted to move on. … I don’t know why, and I don’t know what else a guy could do career-wise and in the community. But that’s part of the business, and you have to move on. I’ll have great memories of my time with the Titans. It just didn’t work out.”

Again, how would it benefit the Titans to spell it out for him?

Here’s why: They don’t think he’s a $10 million a year corner. While he’s a very good and versatile defensive back, he’s not going to single-handedly erase a top receiver every week. Even had the Titans decided to give him the franchise tag, he would have hated it and griped. He’s a good guy at heart, and did a lot for the team and the community, but his nasty streak, on and off the field, could show up at bad moments and be unhealthy. The last time he got money, he didn’t react to a fatter wallet well.

If you’re thinking the loss of Finnegan is going to hit the Titans like the loss of Albert Haynesworth did, or even Jason Babin, I disagree with you.

Jason McCourty is a high quality corner who will be the lead guy now. Alterraun Verner is a smart player who will man the other side. Finnegan manned the nickel post well, but if the Titans are down to that, they’ll find an answer. It could be Ryan Mouton. It could be that Tommie Campbell or Chris Hawkins comes in to take Verner’s outside slot and he kicks inside.

An outsider or two from the lower-tier of veterans will be added. They’ll draft at least one.

And there is your explanation.

I get it, Washington Redskins fans. You've been hurt. You've been burned too many times by big March headlines you thought would bring lasting happiness but instead brought heartache, and now it's difficult for you to trust. You don't want to be hurt again.

How else to explain the horrified reaction by a quarterback-starved fan base to the idea of signing Peyton Manning? Judging by the reactions from the folks in our comments section all the way up to the mayor of Washington, D.C., you'd think we were talking about handing the starting quarterback's job to Dan Snyder's teenage nephew. This is what Mayor Vincent Gray had to say on the topic to a D.C. television station last week:

"You know, I think it depends on what role he would play, Bruce," Gray said. "But I really think the Redskins need a quarterback that they can build with for the future. You know, Andrew Luck is probably going to go to the Colts, but there's Robert Griffin III, and there's a couple other promising quarterbacks that are out there. We've kind of been down this pathway with quarterbacks who've been great but maybe are in the back end of their career, and even if he comes in and plays a year or two, where do we go from there?"

Well, jeez, Mr. Mayor. At that point, you go with the guy you drafted in 2013 because you weren't able to trade up and get Griffin in 2012. Or you go with a young guy you picked later in that draft who's been apprenticing for a year or two under Peyton Manning, for goodness' sake. What Gray and many other Redskins fans seem to be missing here is that Mike Shanahan can't just go to the "franchise quarterback" aisle at the Wegman's down the road from the team's Ashburn, Va., training facility and pick one. Only one team's going to get Griffin, and if the Redskins aren't that team, they need to have a good Plan B. If Manning is fully healthy and shows he can throw the ball the way he was throwing it two years ago before his neck injury, he's the greatest Plan B in alphabetically themed planning history.

Redskins fans, the mayor included, are looking at this whole thing through the disappointing prism of free-agent signing periods past. I'm hearing names such as Bruce Smith, Deion Sanders, Albert Haynesworth and yeah, Donovan McNabb -- a list of big-name, star players the Redskins brought in to great fanfare and who flopped for one reason or another. Because of this, the chorus moans, Manning isn't the way to go. The Redskins have done the big-name/big-contract thing before and it just never works out. They need to stop doing business this way.

Well, guess what? They kind of already have. Yeah, McNabb was a mistake -- a flyer Shanahan took thinking he could re-light a spark that had gone out in Philadelphia and maybe sneak into the playoffs in his first year in Washington. He acknowledges it was a risk that didn't work out. But (a) Manning is not McNabb, who was no longer driven to excel by the time the Redskins got him and (b) the McNabb acquisition is an outlier among the moves Shanahan and Bruce Allen have made since taking over personnel decisions two years ago. Everything else they've done in the draft and free agency has been focused, sober and competent, and they deserve the benefit of the doubt, even from Redskins fans scarred by the mistakes of past administrations.

Snyder doesn't pull these strings anymore. Part of the agreement Shanahan signed when he took the job was that Snyder would let him build the team, as he puts it, "the right way." Last year's draft was an exercise in patience, as Shanahan refused to reach for quarterbacks he didn't think were the long-term answer simply because he had a need at that position. He traded back, trying to build depth, and picked up key future pieces such as Ryan Kerrigan, Roy Helu, Evan Royster, Jarvis Jenkins and Dejon Gomes. He has eight picks this year and will have to decide how many of them he's willing to sacrifice if he wants to move up to draft Griffin. Shanahan knows how many needs his team has, so he's not going to make that decision lightly.

In the meantime, there is free agency, and although the Redskins didn't make a big splash last summer, they did very well in free agency. Shanahan targeted specific players in the 27- to 29-year-old age group -- guys he believed were already established but still young and hungry enough to grow and develop with the team. He plans to use the same formula this year to address wide receiver, offensive line and the secondary. He's not after the biggest name out there. He's after the specific types of players he believes his team needs in order to build a consistent, year-to-year winner.

Which brings us back to Manning, one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. Shanahan's not going to give Manning a big, five-year, huge-money deal. I don't think anyone is, given the health concerns, but if the market gets that crazy, I don't expect the Redskins to play in it. It just wouldn't be smart. Bringing Manning in on a one-year or two-year deal with incentives to allow him to prove he's healthy is smart, because if Manning is healthy, he's worth as much as any quarterback in the league.

That's the important thing to remember here, Redskins fans. Manning isn't a "fading star" who's past his prime. He was, before his neck injury, playing at as high a level as any quarterback in the league. He got hurt and missed a season. Now, it appears he'll be available again. And if he shows teams he can throw the ball the way he did in 2010, he's a smart short-term investment for a team that needs a quarterback answer now and for the future. The ideal solution would be both, but if that's not out there, the Redskins need to be smart about addressing the former while keeping their eye on the latter. So far, the Shanahan regime has shown that it doesn't do business like those "same old Redskins" who've hurt you so many times.

Jason La Canfora of NFL.com did a big thing on potential "cap casualties," and it caught my eye because of the photo of Washington Redskins tight end Chris Cooley right there at the top. Jason lists a number of players who, like Albert Haynesworth in Tampa Bay, Stanford Routt in Oakland and, very soon, Peyton Manning in Indianapolis, could be cut because their salaries don't fit into their team's salary-cap budget for 2012. And here's the part about Cooley:

Chris Cooley

#47 TE
Washington Redskins

2011 STATS

• Rec8
• Yds65
• TD0
• Avg8.1
• Long17
• YAC37

And at tight end, as much as Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan loves tight end Chris Cooley, he is oft-injured and his $3.8 million base may be too steep, especially if Fred Davis is brought back.

So, couple of things here. First, I have little doubt that Davis will be brought back. The Redskins will almost certainly designate him as their franchise player, since the number is low, they like his talent and they're justifiably leery of making a longer-term commitment to a guy who's one bad drug test away from a one-year suspension. To me, Davis isn't the issue.

Nor, presumably, is Cooley's salary. The Redskins are about $47 million under the projected salary cap and can afford to bring Cooley back on his current contract if they so choose. The questions about Cooley are health and whether he's worth that $3.8 million. With Davis having taken over as the primary passing-game threat at the tight end position in Washington, Cooley is now being paid for numbers he no longer puts up.

That said, when I met with Redskins coach Mike Shanahan in December, he mentioned Cooley's injury as one of the bad turning points for the Redskins in 2011 and spoke of how much he liked being able to "set the perimeter" on offense with two very good tight ends. So my belief is that he'd like to have Cooley back. And even if the Redskins decide $3.8 million is too much and they need him to restructure, Cooley's kind of all-in with the Redskins and likely would be amenable to such an idea if it meant staying with the team he loves.

It's a situation worth watching, and anything's possible. But my guess is Cooley comes back to Washington in 2012, even if it's at a lower salary than the one he's currently scheduled to make.

Now, now. Don't go getting all worked up without reading first. I'll even start you off with a little anecdote to ease you into it.

My first beat writing job in sports journalism was as the Florida Marlins beat writer for The Palm Beach Post in 1997. The Marlins had a big offseason prior to 1997, bringing in big free agents and hiring a new manager, Jim Leyland. One of the big free agents they'd brought in was Bobby Bonilla, who'd been a star early in his career in Pittsburgh but had gone on to New York and other places and cultivated a reputation as a selfish malcontent. It was the selfish malcontent thing that led people to question the Bonilla signing, but the reason the Marlins felt good about it was Leyland, who'd been Bonilla's manager in Pittsburgh when Bonilla was a rookie and a young star.

They were right. Reunited with Leyland, a manager he adored and whose every decision he respected and honored, Bonilla played very well for the 1997 Marlins, who won the World Series. He was gracious with and helpful to those of us who covered the team. He was good with the young players. When Leyland dropped him in the batting order during a slump, Bonilla said, "I never question that man." The writers in New York thought we were nuts when we awarded Bonilla our "good guy" award, but the fact is, he was a different guy in Florida than he was in New York, and Leyland was the reason.

So that's what got me thinking about Albert Haynesworth and the Philadelphia Eagles this morning. Haynesworth was released Wednesday, to no one's surprise, by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They are the third team in the past seven months to kick Big Al to the curb, and since he hasn't done much in the three years since he left Tennessee besides loaf and make coaches and teammates angry, it's fair to wonder if any team will even think about signing him.

But if there's one team in the NFL that might think it can get something out of Big Al, it may well be the Eagles. Their defensive line coach, Jim Washburn, was Haynesworth's defensive line coach in Tennessee. Washburn was said to be interested in a reunion with Haynesworth last summer, and to have been hoping the Redskins would cut him so the Eagles could bring him in. Not wanting to risk playing against an angry, motivated Haynesworth twice a year, Mike Shanahan traded him outside the division. But now, he's just sitting there, probably not getting very many offers, and available for Washburn and the Eagles if they want him.

Whether this happens depends on a number of things, but the biggest may well be the way Washburn feels about Haynesworth and what kind of relationship the two men have. If Washburn really feels strongly that he can dig up the performance Haynesworth gave him in Tennessee, and if Haynesworth feels about Washburn the way my man Bonilla felt about Leyland, it's the kind of thing that could work beautifully. It surely wouldn't cost the Eagles much to take a flier on him, and if he turned out to be the same miserable lump he was in Washington, it'd be easy just to cut him and send him on his way.

The Eagles don't need to invite discord into their locker room at this point, so it would behoove them to be sure Washburn can really draw out his talent and motivate him to perform. But if he can, wow. Haynesworth doesn't even turn 31 until June, and when he was at his best, he was one of the best defensive linemen in the league. There's no indication that he's not healthy. His problems with Washington, New England and Tampa Bay all seem to have been attitude related. And yeah, maybe he's just a guy with a bad attitude who got his money and no longer cares about anything else. This is possible, even likely, and can't be ruled out. But sometimes, a coach and a player just click. And if Washburn could get Albert Haynesworth clicking again, the Eagles could come away with one of the steals of the offseason.

TAMPA, Fla. -- I just sent a story to our news desk for our main NFL page, but this news shouldn’t come as any surprise.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have released defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth. The move was widely anticipated for numerous reasons.

Haynesworth basically was brought in as a rental player in November after the Bucs had a series of injuries in the middle of their defensive line, particularly a season-ending injury to Gerald McCoy. His cost for 2011 was minimal and Haynesworth filled a role by starting six games and making 25 tackles.

But McCoy is expected back at full strength and the Bucs also have good, young defensive tackles in Brian Price and Roy Miller. Haynesworth's contract structure for 2012 was dramatically different and that’s another big reason the Bucs went ahead and released him now.

Haynesworth had been scheduled to count $7.2 million against the 2012 salary cap. By releasing him, the Bucs will not be charged anything for Haynesworth against the salary cap. With leftover money carrying over from 2011, the Bucs now have approximately $67 million in cap space.

INDIANAPOLIS -- As displayed in his video documentary "A Football Life," New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick enjoys fishing in his free time. It's fitting, because in football Belichick is not afraid to cut bait.

Many players have come and gone in New England. Some have worked out better than others. But the culture of winning remains the same.

There are only seven players remaining from the Patriots' last Super Bowl team in 2007. In four years, nearly the entire roster has been remade into a championship contender.

Big-name players like Randy Moss, Richard Seymour, Mike Vrabel, Tedy Bruschi and Rodney Harrison all left New England for various reasons. Some were released, retired, or traded and wound up on television.

You also have recent malcontent situations this past season such as former Pro Bowl safety Brandon Meriweather and former Pro Bowl defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth. Meriweather had off-the-field issues last season and surprisingly didn't make the 53-man roster. He landed with the Chicago Bears. Haynesworth was acquired in a big trade this summer and released about midway through the season.

Football is a cruel business. But it's particularly cruel in New England if you're underperforming and not buying into the program. You can multiply that by 10 if you're a malcontent.

"Most head coaches and GMs, they're never really willing to swallow their pride and admit that they made a mistake," former Patriots fullback and NFL Network analyst Heath Evans explained. "Bill just says 'Well, I thought we could fix [Haynesworth]. We couldn't. So bye-bye.' Most guys will sit there and hurt their team by allowing a cancer to infiltrate the system, the mindset, how you get something done. But Bill never hesitated.

"He saw enough. He gave [Haynesworth] enough chances and, boom, he's gone. That's an aspect of the structure and discipline. Bill doesn't care how it makes him look or what he's doing. He's going to do what's best for the team."

Haynesworth and Meriweather were cut because they no longer fit. Moss, Seymour and Vrabel were traded while the value was still high enough to get something for them. Belichick is always thinking about the next move.

Patriots starting receiver Deion Branch was fortunate.

The former Super Bowl MVP held out for more money during New England's training camp and the preseason in 2006, and was eventually traded to the Seattle Seahawks for a first-round pick. Branch got the money he wanted. Seattle signed him to a $39 million extension. But Branch never had the same success in Seattle and was traded back to New England for a fourth-round pick in 2010.

Branch was a good teammate, but the holdout with New England left a bad stench. The Patriots showed they were willing to forgive, and now Branch is one of the veteran leaders of this year's team.

"I was very honored," Branch said. "Not many have the opportunity to come back to the same team that drafted you. Guys don't get the opportunity to go through that phase. I was just very thankful."

New England receiver Chad Ochocinco is an interesting case. He's caused issues in the past with the Cincinnati Bengals. But he's quickly -- and wisely -- bought into the "Patriot way."

Ochocinco only has 15 receptions, but fellow Patriots have described him as the model teammate. He accepted his role in New England, no matter how small it is, for the greater goal of trying to win a championship. Moss also caused problems elsewhere and quickly changed his stripes when coming to New England. The talkative Ochocinco received advice from Moss this season on how to handle the transition.

"I learned to shut the [expletive] up," Ochocinco said this week.

Why doesn't this work everywhere? Why isn't every NFL team selfless and without internal issues?

"I think it doesn't work everywhere, because everyone has to buy in. I mean coaches, players, front office and owner," said former NFL executive Michael Lombardi, who once worked with Belichick. "With the Patriots, everybody buys in from the top all the way through. It's a way of life in New England. It's not just a daily job."

According to veteran guard Brian Waters, star quarterback Tom Brady plays a major role with team chemistry. Brady is an extension of Belichick in the locker room. No one is more competitive and works harder than the team's highest-paid player.

"Everybody's got egos, everybody's got their own way of doing things or what they think is the best way of doing things," Waters said. "But to have a coach set the tone and a player follow the tone as good as Tom, it's hard for any player on your team to even think about having a different thought process. If the best player on your football team is buying in 100 percent, then who are you to be any different? That’s something you have an appreciation for."

Evans, who played with the Patriots from 2005-08, went on to tell a great story involving future Hall of Famer Junior Seau. He was a 12-time Pro Bowl linebacker who joined the Patriots late in his career in 2006.

"Junior Seau, when he first got there, I don't think Junior had ever been yelled at a day in his life, or maybe even coached," Evans recalled. "Junior was over the center, trying to time the snap count, and he must have jumped offsides three times in our first practice. So Bill had it all teed up -- 'the lowlight film' is what he called it. Everyday we had a lowlight reel, and you do not want to be on that lowlight reel, because 52 other players are watching your bad mistake.

"So Junior is there jumping offsides and Bill just goes into his rant. Junior is like, 'Is he really doing this to me?' It was to the point where Junior stood up and said 'Buddy' ... He couldn't believe Bill was giving him the business like that."

No one player is bigger than the team in New England. The Patriots have done a great job of consistently sending that message and getting rid of players who don't understand. It's resulted in another Super Bowl appearance Sunday against the New York Giants.

The 2011-12 Patriots are particularly close-knit. Owner Robert Kraft says it's arguably his favorite group since owning the team, and they are one game away from capping a special season.

"One thing I've learned is that many games are lost and won in the locker room before the game starts," Kraft said this week. "Now, they have to go out and execute [against New York]."

The standings say the Carolina Panthers are the worst team in the NFC South. I say, they’re not even close.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have worked really hard to clinch that honor, at least for the moment.

Yeah, I know Carolina is 3-8 and Tampa Bay is 4-7. But this isn’t about finite numbers -- at least not until Sunday when the two teams play and the Panthers have a chance to draw mathematically even with the Bucs.

The Panthers have an offense and they have lots of hope for the future. The Bucs are on a losing streak that looks like it could reach infinity.

When they meet Sunday at Raymond James Stadium it won’t hold the star power of a Saints/Falcons game, but it could tell the story of two NFC South teams headed in very different directions. The Bucs also play the Panthers in Charlotte on Christmas Eve. If the Bucs haven’t stopped their free fall by then, things will get really ugly in Tampa Bay.

The Bucs are on a five-game losing streak and not even quarterback Josh Freeman can put his thumb on the reasons why. Hey, let's take it one step further since Freeman and the Bucs have opened that door -- "Fire those cannons,'' Josh!''

It wasn’t supposed to work out this way at all. This was supposed to be the season in which the Bucs joined the Saints and Falcons. But somewhere on the ride to the penthouse, it looks like coach Raheem Morris and his team have taken a very wrong turn.

Even before the losing streak started, the Bucs weren’t playing like they were supposed to. Tampa Bay was supposed to take a huge step forward after going 10-6 last season with the league’s youngest roster.

The Bucs didn’t make a lot of offseason changes and seemed to be going on the logical assumption that everyone would be a year better. There’s nothing wrong with a youth movement (and even an occasional Albert Haynesworth) as long as coaches and players keep it moving in a positive direction, even if the schedule is difficult. But it’s hard to find any positives with the Bucs right now, and punter Michael Koenen doesn't count.

Freeman, who threw 25 touchdowns and just six interceptions last season, hasn’t been able to hit targets. Mike Williams, who looked like a No. 1 receiver as a rookie, has turned into the second coming of Michael Clayton. LeGarrette Blount, who ran for 1,000 yards in half a season, might need a season and a half to hit that mark again, which might coincide with the moment he finally learns to pass block.

People talked about Freeman, Williams and Blount as "The Triplets" last year. I still think Freeman has a world of potential, but it’s looking like he might end up being the only child. On defense, the Bucs have invested a lot of draft picks and money invested in their defensive line.

But this defense still appears to have the same track marks on its back as it did in the final days of the Jon Gruden era. Speaking of Gruden, the Bucs fired him after he lost his final four games to finish 9-7 in 2008.

If Morris ends up losing 10 games in a row (or anything close to that), do you seriously think he’s going to get a contract extension? He’s sort of up for one. When the Bucs hired Morris in 2009, they gave him a two-year deal with an option for two more. The Bucs picked up that option. But it’s hard to imagine the Bucs letting Morris coach the final year, unless his team suddenly finishes on an upswing.

In case you haven’t heard, the Bucs have a little problem selling tickets. Heading into 2012 with a marketing slogan of “Come see our lame-duck head coach and a bunch of guys who really underachieved last year’’ probably won’t cause a surge at the box office.

Besides, you don’t head into a season with a lame-duck coach. Just ask the Panthers. They did it in 2010 with John Fox and the only thing they got out of that was Ron Rivera as the head coach and the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.

The Panthers used that pick in April to select Cam Newton. As it turned out, those pre-draft scouting reports that were filled with lots of doubt now translate into "Big, strong guy, who can throw, run and even make Steve Smith smile."

Yeah, three wins don’t make a season. But four, five or six victories and visions of a healthy Jon Beason (maybe even a healthy Thomas Davis) sure would fire up a fan base that hasn’t seen many good things since Jan. 10, 2009. That was the night Jake Delhomme celebrated what reportedly was his 34^th birthday (the reality was his right arm turned 68 that day) with five interceptions (and a fumble) in an embarrassing home playoff loss to Arizona.

The Panthers followed that up with a contract extension for Delhomme, whose right arm went on to turn 78 before his 35^th birthday. That set the stage for a 2010 season in which Fox pointed fingers at ownership and the front office, hazed Jimmy Clausen (“Brian St. Pierre is better than you’’ and “I can make Timmy Tebow into a better quarterback than you, Mr. Notre Dame pedigree’’) and completely forgot to coach is team.

The Panthers went 2-14.

They hired Rivera. They drafted Newton, who came out of the gate putting up 400-yard games. With Beason and Davis hurt, the Panthers have been horrible on defense.

Even while losing, the Panthers have made their fans feel like they’re winning. Newton and the offense are flat-out entertaining and that’s brought tons of hope for the future. Rivera’s a defensive guru and a draft and a few free agents could fix that side of the ball.

Funny, but the Panthers appear to be headed for what the Bucs once were supposed to be and the Bucs seem to be headed for where the Panthers just were.

They’ll intersect Sunday and the result will tell us as much about the bottom of the NFC South as a game between the Falcons and Saints does at the top.

If both teams are 4-8 by the end of Sunday afternoon, the Panthers will have clearly soared past by the Bucs. Or, depending on how you look at it, the Bucs will have fallen lower than the Panthers.

Tampa Bay’s already-battered defensive line might have taken another hit Sunday.

Coach Raheem Morris said Monday that defensive tackle Brian Price suffered an ankle injury on Sunday. Price was seen on crutches after the game. Morris said he’ll have more detailed information on Price’s injury later in the week. If Price has to miss time, it would be another blow to a defensive line that previously lost defensive tackle Gerald McCoy to a season-ending injury and had to play without injured defensive end Michael Bennett in Sunday’s loss at Tennessee.

The Bucs brought in defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth after losing McCoy. If Price is out for an extended period, the Bucs almost certainly will have to bring in another defensive tackle.