There's only room for so many reclamation projects on Pete Carroll's Northwest Isle of Misfit Toys. Antonio Bryant got the boot over the weekend. Braylon Edwards remains. Terrell Owens might be joining the club soon.
We have no idea whether Owens will get signed by the Seattle Seahawks, but he's not going to get a better chance to make an impact in the NFL again. Carroll isn't afraid to take chances. And he's clearly not happy with his split end position. There is an opportunity to start. Otherwise, why bother with a player like Owens who won't help on special teams?
Golden Tateshould be leading this battle, but Carroll's stopgap veteran wanderlust proves there is room for a newcomer to make an impact. In theory, the hardest part for Owens was getting his foot in the door. Carroll appears willing to take a chance on him. Without getting too overdramatic, I suspect this will be Owens' last chance.
What we learned from team scrimmage weekend
We analyze practice throughout training camp, so why not scrimmages? Here's what we learned from some of the teams that held scrimmages over the weekend.
- No one stepped up for the Dallas Cowboys in their No. 3 receiver battle during their scrimmage. Undrafted rookie Tim Bedford came the closest. The Cowboys have seven guys battling for the spot and don't seem to love anyone. This hasn't been a great camp for the Cowboys.
Miles Austin is out a week with an injury. Morris Claiborne got hurt again after missing most of the offseason. Seemingly every guard on the team is hurt.
- It didn't feel like a scrimmage for the Denver Broncos. Over 41,000 fans showed up to watch the Broncos, double the amount that came for Tim Tebow's unveiling in 2010. Peyton Manningthrew the ball over 50 yards on the first play from scrimmage, although it fell incomplete.
"I actually changed that play to a deep pass just to keep the fans from leaving," Manning said.
Manning had two three-and-outs before leading a touchdown drive.
- Andy Dalton's first three passes in the Cincinnati Bengals' "Mock Game" went to A.J. Green for 74 yards. Good to see nothing has changed there.
- Norv Turner admitted that he wanted the San Diego Chargers scrimmage to be "vanilla" because you never know who is watching. Thanks for showing up, Chargers fans!
- We overanalyzed Tim Tebow's struggles at the New York Jets scrimmage over the weekend. The good news: Santonio Holmes' rib injury won't keep him out long. Linebacker Demario Davis made a sack; he could wind up passing Bart Scott on the depth chart.
Advantage, Skelton
It's rare anything of consequence happens during the Hall of Fame Game. Sunday night was an exception.
Kevin Kolb's nightmare 2011 season got off to the worst start imaginable with a quick interception and an injury. Around the League's Marc Sessler talked one-on-one with Kolb after the game, and the Arizona Cardinals quarterback didn't think his rib injury would keep him out long.
Still, any missed time will give John Skelton an edge in this quarterback battle. Skelton mostly looked composed Sunday night and even showed an ability to improvise. Sessler has the rest of the big takeaways from the game, including the replacement officials botching the coin toss.
