Playful hazing of rookies is a time-honored tradition in the NFL. Rookies are forced to carry veterans’ pads throughout training camp, receive whacky haircuts from teammates, and have harmless pranks done to them.

These can be fun team-building activities and — as Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen pointed out — can serve as a good way to remind rookies that they have not yet arrived but rather are starting over at the bottom of the totem pole.

Over the line

But hazing can be taken too far.

When hazing advances to the point where it’s no longer fun and playful, it becomes harassment and even outright abuse.

That is what seems to have happened in Miami, where second-year tackle Jonathan Martin recently left the team after claiming he was abused by veteran guard Richie Incognito.

The evidence against Incognito appears fairly cut and dried. A voicemail that he left on Martin’s phone has gone public in which Incognito, who is white, uses racist insults against Martin, who is black — and on top of that, threatens to kill him.

This voicemail is surely not an isolated incident. It was left for Martin last summer, and Martin did not walk out on the team until late October. Incognito is accused of repeatedly texting Martin and threatening to hunt down members of his family and harm them.

It all came to a head in the team cafeteria, when Martin reportedly sat down at a table — only to see all his teammates get up and go elsewhere. Martin stormed out of the room and has not been back for over a week now. Instead, he checked himself into a hospital for emotional distress.

Backing the bully

Unsurprisingly, many people around the NFL are speaking out on this issue. What surprises and disgusts me is how many are defending Richie Incognito over Jonathan Martin.

The Miami Herald reports that most of the Dolphins players are supporting Incognitorather than Martin. New York Giants safety Antrel Rolle has blamed Martin for allowing this to happen rather than putting a stop to it himself. Various NFL executives have called Martin a coward (anonymously, of course, because they’re too cowardly to put their name to that statement) for failing to stand up to Incognito.

We the fans are being treated to a glimpse into the machismo culture of the NFL, and I for one do not like what I see.

Players are taught to police themselves and settle things on their own, but Martin cannot be faulted for running away here. Incognito, after all, has a long history of aggression, bullying, and starting fights.

Given what Dolphins players are saying right now, Martin is probably safe in assuming his teammates would side with Incognito over him if it came down to a physical confrontation. Football players have a career that puts them at risk of physical harm and injury on a daily basis, but nobody should have to work in an environment where they believe their coworkers are intentionally trying to hurt them and their loved ones.

Obviously, none of us has been in that locker room, so none of us knows the full story. But I do not need to be there everyday to listen to that voicemail and know it has gone far beyond what should ever be considered acceptable.

Any player who blames Jonathan Martin for allowing this to happen quite frankly is an idiot, and any executive who agrees that should lose his job on the spot.

Enabling the bully

I know the NFL cultivates a tough-guy culture and running away doesn’t fit in with that, but this isn’t just some minor hazing we’re talking about. This is a serious verbal assault of a nature that may very well constitute a hate crime.

Martin would have been well within his rights to immediately take that voicemail to the police last summer, but instead he chose to put up with the maltreatment for several more months.

Blaming the victim rather than the bully only perpetuates the bullying culture. It is not the responsibility of the victim to put a forcible stop to bullying; rather, it is the duty of those in authority to quash aggression before it escalates to violence.

Wrong message

What’s most troubling about this situation is that athletes are supposed to be role models for the youth of this country, many of whom idolize these men as heroes.

Bullying is already prevalent among American youth. Young people are singled out based on their sexual preference, physical appearance, or any number of other reasons. Bullying drives far too many teenagers to despair and even, tragically, to suicide. How dare these professional football players stoop to blaming the victims rather than the perpetrators!

They are sending the message bullying is acceptable until the victim makes you stop. So that skinny little nerd with glasses on the bus who would have no chance against you in a fight is fair game. After all, it’s his fault, not yours!

Rather than criticizing Martin for running away, his peers should applaud him for making a smart decision. Sometimes the best choice is to go to the authorities instead of trying to handle something on one’s own. Martin found himself in one of those situations, correctly identified it, and took action.

Jonathan Martin should be commended, not condemned, for his courage.

When news broke this morning that linebacker Brian Urlacher was officially retiring after 13 years in the NFL, just one phrase came to mind.

Thank you, Brian Urlacher.

Thank you for continuing the storied tradition of outstanding middle linebackers in Chicago. Thank you providing the Chicago Bears with 13 years of incredible play and top-notch leadership. Thank you for putting up with all the terrible offenses in Chicago and still managing to keep the team competitive. Thank you for helping restore a moribund franchise to respectability.

And last — but certainly not least — thank you for knowing when it was time to walk away. The writing was on the wall already last year, when you struggled through the season after admitting your knee would never be the same. That story continued this offseason, when the Bears announced you would not return.

Bears fans’ worst fears jumped to the forefront when rumors swirled you might sign with the rival Minnesota Vikings, but that died down after they denied being interested. When the Vikings, famous for taking the washed-up leftovers of the rest of the NFC North, said no, it was obviously time to hang them up. But we all know that many players often ignore the signs with delusions of grandeur and wallow in misery at the tail end of their careers.

Bears fans like myself are immensely relieved today that we get to claim you as only our own. You played your entire career for one franchise — no small feat in today’s NFL. As a result, Chicago fans will put you alongside Ditka, Butkus, Payton, and Halas as greats that belong to them and them only. We don’t have to erase the memory of you limping around as a shadow of yourself in a strange uniform, like Bulls fans with Jordan, Packers fans with Favre, San Francisco fans with Montana, and so many others.

I am particularly grateful to not have to go through a Favre-like scenario, where some Green Bay fans are still angry at him years after he retired. Things seemed like they might be headed that way when you had some angry comments on your way out of town, but you softened your stance considerably just a few days later.

Right now it may seem like a bitter pill for you to swallow, but in time you will surely come to realize that this is for the best. You have the privilege few players ever enjoy: to go out (mostly) at the top of your game, having lead an elite defense for the franchise you defined one last time. Surely that’s better than toiling away for a bad team in a strange city for the last couple years!

So once again I say thank you, Brian Urlacher. Thank you for everything.

Brian Urlacher, Charles Woodson, John Abraham, Dwight Freeney, James Harrison, and Casey Hampton all have much in common.

They have all been perennial Pro Bowlers, they were all cornerstones of their respective franchise cornerstones, and they may all get serious Hall of Fame consideration.

They were all starters in 2012.

And they are all out of a job.

It’s nearly a month into free agency already, and almost no team has shown much interest in any of these men. How could such capable, experienced players find themselves on the outside looking in?

All about the Benjamins

As with most things in life, it all comes down to money.  All of these players are in line to take a significant pay cut from their previous hefty contracts, and not all of them may be willing to do so.  Brian Urlacher, for example, was offered a one-year, $2 million contract by the Chicago Bears, which he turned down and called a “slap in the face.”  Yet if he wants to play football in 2013, he’ll probably end up playing for even less than that.

Other veterans face similar pay cuts from previous lofty salaries, and many — Elvis Dumervil, Brent Grimes, Nnamdi Asomugha, and Antoine Winfield to name a few — have been cut and left no choice but to sign new, significantly smaller contracts.

The NFL is finally starting to see the effects of the 2011 collective bargaining agreement, and it is not looking pretty for veterans.  Many of them were very happy to see rookie salaries slashed and veteran minimum salaries increased, but the flip side of this is that younger players are now significantly cheaper than veterans. As a result, teams placing an emphasis on acquiring young, cheap talent. Aging veterans who are used to getting paid well find that the league is not nearly as kind to them as they might like.

Speed kills

Another reason older players are finding themselves phased out is simply due to their lack of speed.  The NFL is increasingly becoming a pass-oriented league, making it ever more challenging for defenders to keep up in coverage.  Older players tend to struggle in space. Charles Woodson is still solid against the run and can make some intelligent gambles to produce turnovers, but he has also been prone to getting burned in coverage the last few years. Woodson is right when he says that he has no job because of his age.

Conclusion

Welcome to the new NFL, where young players are at a premium and older players can either swallow their ego or pack their bags.  Although this can be hard for the players and fans to accept, it is probably better for the league, as it allocates more money for true stars and gives more young players a chance to prove they belong.  Greater depth, competition, and parity are a large part of what has made the NFL the most popular sports league in America, and these changes from the new NFL collective bargaining agreement should only continue that beneficial trend.

As a huge Chicago Bulls fan, I thoroughly enjoyed their recent game against the Miami Heat. It’s always must-see TV when your favorite team goes up against the league’s best, but the atmosphere around this game was even more intense because Miami entered the contest on a 27-game winning streak, the second longest in NBA history.

Chicago won an entertaining game 101-97, and I loved every second of it. But afterwards, I couldn’t help thinking about how my game-watching experience now is so different from what it was ten—or even five—years ago. I watched the game at home by myself (I know, I’m a loser), but I was not alone. Thanks to Twitter, Facebook, and other social media, I was able to share in the highs and lows of the game with thousands of other fans, many of whom I didn’t even know.

Ten years ago, I would have had to go to a sports bar for a similar experience (ignoring the fact that I was only 14). And I would have shared the moment with the somewhere between 10 and 20 people. Instead, I reveled in each highlight dunk, complained about each suspect foul, and cracked dozens of jokes at Miami’s expense along with fellow fans from around the globe.

This experience was not limited to simply this one game, although it was magnified by the significance of the contest. Similar ones happen for fans everywhere whenever their favorite team is playing, whether the platform is Twitter, ESPN, or another social media outlet. Being a fan today is not just about watching the games. More than it has ever been, fandom is about experiencing moments together with your fellow fans.

Well, maybe not more than it has ever been. Sports bars, tailgates, and game parties, which offer much of the same camaraderie (and arguably even a better version of it) have been a staple of fandom for years. Maybe it’s simply easier to be a part of these moments now—especially for those who live out of the media market of their favorite teams—since you don’t have to leave your own couch.

Alone among millions

Is this trend good or bad for sports fans? Much like the social media technology itself, I think it’s a little bit of both. It’s great to be able to experience these moments and events together, but it should not replace actual person-to-person contact. I’d rather watch a game with four or five buddies and stay off of the internet than sit by myself and be “hanging out” with other fans online. Unfortunately, the former option isn’t always possible, so the second one is a much better alternative to sitting alone and talking to no one.

The other issue is making sure that you don’t get so caught up in talking about the game that you actually miss out on the game. When I am really into a game, I find social media too distracting, as it’s easy to get wrapped up in debates and/or conversations and miss what’s actually going on. Thus, I turn my computer off (I’m still stuck in the Stone Age without a smartphone), or at least only look at it during commercials.

What does this all mean? What am I trying to say here? I’m not sure I have a grand point. I just think it’s cool that we can share in our fandom in real time during games, even if there’s nobody else there with us. That’s a privilege previous generations of fans didn’t have, and I want to take a moment to appreciate it. I also hope that we don’t gradually lose out on the old-school ways of experiencing sports together.

Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson had a historic 2012 season, setting a new NFL record with 1,964 receiving yards. Perhaps his most impressive feat is that he did this despite going against Richard Sherman and Charles Tillman, the two cornerbacks who made the All-Pro team, in three of his 16 games. In other words, Johnson (or “Megatron,” as he has been dubbed), played three games against the two best cornerbacks in the NFL and still shattered the record for most receiving yards in a season.

How well did Johnson perform in those three games? The answers might surprise you. Let’s take a closer look at the per-game numbers.

It’s apparent that Johnson did not fare very well against top-flight cornerbacks. His completion percentage was significantly lower than either Tillman or Sherman gave up for the year (47.1% and 63.3%, respectively, per ProFootballFocus); the same was true for his yards per target against both Sherman and Tillman (7.3 and 5.9, respectively).

ProFootballFocus assigns grades for players for each individual game based on how well they perform relative to average. In the three games against Tillman and Sherman, Johnson posted three negative scores that together added up to -2.6. By contrast, his other 13 games featured 11 positive scores for a cumulative total of 28.9.

What does this mean for Johnson and the Lions?

Megatron destroys most opponents

Take a second look at those numbers Johnson posted in those other 13 games. He was stellar, averaging over 10 yards per target and 140 yards per game. Sure, some of it was against lesser opponents with terrible pass defenses (the Jacksonvilles and Tennessees of the NFL), but there were some other solid pass defenses in there too: Arizona, San Francisco, Minnesota, and St. Louis jump immediately to mind. The fact that Johnson could still break the previous yardage by over 100 yards record despite having these three poor games speaks volumes to just how incredible he was in the other thirteen.

Credit Tillman and Sherman

The success that these two cornerbacks had against such a dominant receiver speaks volumes to just how great they were last year, especially since on multiple occasions they were left to cover Johnson alone. This is also a testament to the rest of the Chicago and Seattle secondaries, especially the safeties, often helped double-team Johnson. Voters don’t always get their selections for the All-Pro teams right, but in this case they were 100 percent correct in saying that these two were indeed the best cornerbacks in football last year.

Pressing needs

If they want to become a winning team again, the Lions need other passing options to emerge as reliable targets.

Even though Johnson was unable to make plays against Chicago and Seattle, quarterback Matthew Stafford still threw his way an average of 11 times in those games. Admittedly, that was down slightly from the 13.3 targets Johnson averaged in the other 13 games, and it was also a slightly smaller percentage of total teams targets (24.1% versus 27.7% on the season); but that is still too many targets for a player  struggling to produce.

Against Seattle, Titus Young was able to take the pressure off Johnson, converting his nine targets into nine receptions, 100 yards, and two touchdowns. In the two games against Chicago, nobody was stepped up. Not coincidentally, the Lions beat Seattle and lost twice to Chicago.

Detroit has already made one move to improve their passing game this offseason, signing running back Reggie Bush, a pass-catching specialist out of the backfield. They also will get receivers Nate Burleson and Ryan Broyles back healthy. The Lions need them to take advantage of favorable coverage due to teams blanketing Johnson, which will in turn also help reduce the coverage on Johnson and free him to make more big plays.

Conclusion

Calvin Johnson is an incredible player, one who has clearly established himself as the best wide receiver in the NFL over the last two seasons. But his struggles against top-shelf secondaries show that he is not invincible, and the onus is now on Detroit to surround him with the necessary talent that will allow him to dominate against even the best competition.

It’s never easy to say goodbye.

Unfortunately, Chicago Bears fans find themselves having to do exactly that with Brian Urlacher. After two months of hoping he would be back with my beloved Bears for another year or two before riding gracefully off into the sunset, news broke yesterday that this will not happen. Chicago wanted Urlacher back, and Urlacher wanted to be back with Chicago, but the two sides split over a money difference.

Living legend

Brian Urlacher’s numbers speak for themselves. In 13 years with the Bears, he played in 182 games, amassing 1,353 tackles, 41.5 sacks, 12 forced fumbles, 16 fumble recoveries, 22 interceptions, and five defensive touchdowns. He was the 2000 Defensive Rookie of the Year, was named to eight Pro Bowls, was a first-team All-Pro four times, and won the 2005 Defensive Player of the Year award.

But Urlacher’s impact on fans like me far transcends the numbers.

He has been with the Bears since 2000, when I was 11 years old. To me—and many others—Brian Urlacher is the Bears. I literally cannot remember a time when Urlacher was not a member of my favorite football team. I grew up living in Southern California and South Florida in the days before it was easy to follow your team from afar (thank you, internet!), and was lucky if I got to watch the Bears play two or three times a year. I also didn’t start following football seriously until around 2003 or so, when Urlacher was already established as the face of the franchise.

I moved to Chicago in 2006, right when Urlacher was in his prime and leading one of the NFL’s best defenses on a Super Bowl-bound team. I will never forget him matching Reggie Bush stride for stride down the length of the field in the 2006 NFC Championship Game, or intercepting hated rival Brett Favre and returning the ball 85 yards for a touchdown in a 2007 rout of the Green Bay Packers. These memories and many more will be with me forever, and I am sure the same is true for many other Bears fans.

Mixed emotions

I’m still trying to process the idea that Brian Urlacher will not be a Bear.

For over a decade now, the franchise has been defined by their dominant defense — with Urlacher at the helm — carrying a marginal (at best) offense. With Urlacher gone and moves being made to improve the offense, that identity is changing in a hurry. Objectively, I can look at Chicago’s recent track record and see that might be a good thing, but the fan in me is finding it hard to say goodbye to what I have known and loved for so long.

My greatest fear is that Urlacher ends up pulling an Olin Kreutz and settles for less money to go play elsewhere for a year (or part of a year in Kreutz’s case) before accepting the inevitable and retiring. It would feel wrong to see Urlacher in any uniform other than Chicago’s. I cannot stand the thought of rooting against Urlacher in a football game.  Although this is extremely selfish of me, I truly hope Urlacher is unable to find a team willing to pay him what he wants this year. I want nothing more than for him to retire as a lifelong Bear, joining other Chicago greats like Walter Payton, Dick Butkus, and many others.

The first reaction of many fans will be anger directed at the Bears, especially after Urlacher dismissed Chicago’s offer of one year at $2 million as “a slap in the face.” Others will surely resent Urlacher for refusing to play for less than $3 million per year. Personally, I hold no ill will toward either party. They both have to do what they think is best for them, and in this case that means going in different directions.

Saying goodbye

Even as I struggle to bid my fond farewell, I can think back on Brian Urlacher’s career in Chicago and take solace in one thing. I had the privilege of watching an all-time great player, the second-best middle linebacker of his generation, play for my favorite team for 13 years. During that time, he provided consistently excellent play on the field without creating any problems off of it. I can’t ask for any more than that.

Thanks for the memories, Brian.

Rookie bargains

When the new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the NFL and players’ union was put into place prior to the 2011 season, one of the big changes from the old CBA was the rookie wage scale. Gone were the days when players drafted in the top five became the highest-paid player at their position in NFL history before playing a single down.

Talk, Talk, Talk

Player safety.

That seems to be the key buzzword floating around the NFL these days.  Rodger Goodell and the league office talk about it all the time.  Seriously.  They just don’t stop.  They fine players for it, make new rules in the pursuit of it, and make commercials about it.

The players, meanwhile, also seem to care about their own safety quite a bit.  They talk about it adnauseam, and many former NFL players are suing the NFL for a lack of safety protocol, ostensibly to make the game safer more than to line their own pockets.

This fan, for one, is utterly sick of it, and I know I can’t be alone.  Both sides talk back and forth, pointing fingers at each other, but neither push for any meaningful reform.  All they care about is winning the war of public opinion, and their blatant hypocrisy needs to stop.

When the NFL and players’ union were in a lockout in 2011, they debated many important issues for the future of the league, including how to fairly share revenue and prevent rookies from being vastly overpaid.  But for two parties that both care so much about player safety, they didn’t really make much progress on that front.  Sure, they reduced full-contact practices and offseason workouts and put some token money into medical research, but they missed the main issue.

Style over safety

Football players have safer helmets available to them, ones that are proven to reduce concussions.  A few players, such as DeSean Jackson, Aaron Rodgers, and Greg Jennings, have switched to these (with good results), but the vast majority eschew them because they don’t look cool enough.  So let me get this straight: players will sue the NFL because of concussions, but won’t change to helmets that can prevent these concussions because of the style? It is hypocrisy of the highest order, and it was repeated when players complained about being forced to wear thigh pads.

The NFL league office, meanwhile, is not blameless in this either.  Sure, they fine players for delivering dangerous hits, but they do nothing to force them to wear the safer equipment. I understand that needs to be bargained with the players’ union, but if the league really cared about player safety as much as they claim, that would have been a top priority in the 2011 lockout.  A league that can fine players for their socks or shoes, but not for wearing unsafe helmets, is not a league that truly cares about the safety of those players.

Furthermore, the NFL is really only using player safety as an excuse to tweak rules in favor of the offense.  When one quarterback gets his knee blown out by a player lunging from the ground, that becomes illegal.  Receivers and quarterbacks have greater protection now than they ever have, making the passing game much more prolific than at any point in NFL history, but defensive players do not get awarded this same protection.  Offensive players have far fewer restrictions on how to block than defenders do on how to hit, leading to leg injuries to defensive players who get chopped down on a regular basis.  The NFL’s new crackdown on player safety is inherently biased towards promoting big plays and lots of points, things which help drive ratings and make money for the league.

Calling Bull

Both the NFL and the players’ union claim to care about player safety, but I’m not buying it.  Both sides are extremely hypocritical and only really care about one thing—money.  There is nothing wrong with this, but lying to the public to garner sympathy is just wrong.  I’m calling bullshit right here and right now. Shut up and play. Take the copious quantities of money we throw at you and be done with it.

Don’t expect us to care about your health when you prove just how little you care about it yourselves.

Amidst stories of teams telling their injured players to dust it off and get back out there, it is refreshing to see instances in which a team genuinely puts player safety before the importance of winning a game. Three such examples have happened in recent years within the NFC North, and they all make me respect the men making decisions for those teams immensely.

Nick Collins

Early in the 2011 season, Green Bay Packers safety Nick Collins suffered a severe neck injury. Green Bay kept him on the roster for the entire season before deciding it was not safe for him to play football anymore. Collins retired shortly thereafter. General manager Ted Thompson said that “we were not comfortable clearing him to play again. As with all of our players, Nick is a member of our family and we thought of him that way as we came to this conclusion.”

Collins had been one of the leaders of a defense that played well in the team’s Super Bowl run, and the Packers clearly missed his presence on the field. Faced with an opportunity to clear him, helping their defense but exposing him to further serious injury, the team chose to put his well-being first, something football fans should take notice of and applaud.

Jahvid Best

The Detroit Lions faced a similar situation with running back Jahvid Best, who suffered a severe concussion (not his first) in October of 2011. The Lions, who had started 5-0 with Best’s explosive playmaking, stumbled to a 5-7 finish over their remaining 12 games.

Heading into the 2012 season, Best had still not been cleared by doctors, and Detroit likely at least suspected that he never would be, yet they still kept him on the roster, paying him his salary and providing him with free, top-notch medical care.  After the season, it was announced that Best’s career was over. Once again, a team had a chance to try and get a valuable player back on the field at the risk of his long-term safety, but decided instead to listen to doctors and make player safety the main priority.

Johnny Knox

Just a few months later, Chicago Bears wide receiver Johnny Knox was bent over backwards and nearly paralyzed towards the end of the 2011 season.

Even though he could barely walk at the start of the next season, the team kept Knox on the roster, once again giving the player access to money (over $1 million) and top-notch medical care they were not obligated to provide. Despite Knox’s public insistence that he wanted to play again, Chicago cut him after the 2012 season, and he retired days later.

Setting the example

Three teams, three talented players in position of need, three franchises put their players’ health ahead of putting the best possible talent on the field. Their good example stands in stark contrast to the recent behavior of the Washington Redskins, who let a clearly hobbled Robert Griffin III play in the playoffs because he insisted he could do it. These teams trusted their medical professionals to make the call, even over the pleadings of their players, who were filled with passion for the game and a burning desire to win. For that they have earned my deep respect. Here’s hoping more teams follow their lead.

Green Bay’s offensive hallmark in the last five years has been their passing game, which makes perfect sense when you consider that they have an all-time great quarterback in Aaron Rodgers. However, two successive playoff failures have made many think that Green Bay, which has not had a rusher go over 750 yards since 2009, needs a feature back who can give them a solid running game.

Many fans are looking longingly at free-agent running back Steven Jackson, who has been a very good running back on many very bad St. Louis Rams teams in the last eight years. ESPN NFL analyst John Clayton has also publicly stated that he thinks this would be a great idea, suggesting that signing him for $5 million would be a great deal for the Packers.

On the surface, this move makes perfect sense. Putting a dangerous running back in an offense that is already explosive can only help improve it. But is this actually the case, and would such a hefty investment be worth it for an older back?

Steven Jackson has already played eight years in the NFL, and he has almost 2400 career carries.  That’s some serious mileage, and it’s fair to worry about diminishing returns once a player has taken that many hits. Let’s look at other running backs in the last twenty years who have more than 2400 carries, and see how they fared.

Looking at the table, it’s hard to think that signing Steven Jackson would be a good idea. Only three of the eleven backs in similar situations to him improved their production after 2,400 carries, and one of those (Warrick Dunn) did so in an extremely limited sample size (186 carries). Of the 33 100-or-more carry seasons by these backs after they had ,2400 carries, only seven (21%) averaged better than their first 2,400 carries. By contrast, nineteen of them (58%) found the backs performing at a clip that was at least 0.3 yards per carry worse than their average from their first 2,400 carries.

To put these numbers in perspective, Steven Jackson has averaged 4.2 yards per carry in his career so far. Based on historical numbers, then, he would have roughly a 20% chance of averaging 4.2 yards per carry or more for the Packers, and close to a 60% chance of averaging 3.9 yards per carry or less. There were 31 NFL running backs who had 100 or more carries while averaging 3.9 yards or more in 2012, including five rookies, four of whom were drafted in the third round or later.