The National Football League has seen its fair share of interesting moves since free agency opened on March 5th. I completely struck out in my free agency predictions (Thomas Jones went to the Chiefs, come on), and there’s been some trades that have greatly benefited some teams. Here are the moves that have caught my eye the most.

THE GOOD

I absolutely love two trades thus far. Baltimore picking up Anquan Boldin and a fifth round pick from Arizona for a third and fourth rounder is a stroke of genius for the Ravens. They needed a go-to wide receiver, and Boldin will be that guy. They also resigned Derrick Mason to go with the signing of Dante Stallworth. In half a month, the Ravens have transformed their receiving core into a respectable unit.

The second trade I fully endorse went down on Sunday, with the Denver Broncos acquiring Brady Quinn. I know his numbers in Cleveland were atrocious, but he’s still just 25 years old and has plenty of potential. For a fullback (Peyton Hillis), a sixth rounder and a conditional pick (rumoured to be no higher than a fourth rounder), the Broncos have potentially found their quarterback for the future. If he’s surrounded by the right pieces and Josh McDaniels keeps his QB-friendly system, Denver has a chance at having a major steal on their hands.

On the free agent front, some of the signings I’ve been a fan of include Chester Taylor to the Bears, Karlos Dansby to the Dolphins, and Aaron Kampman to the Jaguars. All three players plugged major holes for their new teams, and Dansby especially is primed for a huge season.

THE BAD

Not too sure I understand the Larry Foote signing in Pittsburgh. Three years, $9.3 million for a guy you released before last season seems a little high to me. The Steelers must be down on Lawrence Timmons, because bringing in Foote at over three million per season to back up Timmons and James Farrior seems odd to me.

I knew Dunta Robinson would get a big contract due to the diluted cornerback market, but the six year, $57 million dollar contract he signed is ridiculous. It includes $22.5 million in guaranteed money, for a corner who averages just over two interceptions per season, including a grand total of zero last year, and has a history of knee injuries.

THE UGLY

The New York Jets confuse me to no end. The decision to cut Thomas Jones made sense to me, but the idea to sign LaDainian Tomlinson throws everything out of sorts. The Jets had Shonn Greene and Leon Washington on the roster, but still felt like replacing a productive aging running back, with a worn down aging running back.

Monday morning, Mike Holmgren said he may select a quarterback with the seventh overall pick, or even trade up to grab either Jimmy Clausen or Sam Bradford. If that’s the case why trade for Seneca Wallace and sign Jake Delhomme? Is either of those two going to be happy as a third option, or is the seventh (or higher) drafted player going to hold a clipboard all year as an emergency policy? I don’t really understand what’s going on in Cleveland, but I’m sure Holmgren has some sort of plan.

TWO POINT CONVERSION

- in my last post when I discussed the retirement of Chris Samuels, I mentioned Orlando Pace, Walter Jones and Samuels as the great tackles of this generation. As one reader pointed out, I omitted another incredible player, Johnathan Ogden. Ogden was a staple for the Ravens for twelve seasons, and clearly deserves to be mentioned among the best tackles of the past twenty years

- a story on profootballtalk.com (http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/03/15/scout-on-vick-he-cant-throw/) tells that a scout evaluated Mike Vick, coming to conclusion that “he can’t throw”. Why is this a story now? Anyone who watched Vick on the Falcons knew he couldn’t throw then, and sure can’t now

Many people I talked to today about the Monday nighter shared a common view – it was painful to watch. I couldn’t agree more, but I love football too much to let the Cleveland Browns ruin my Monday night. The Browns are an interesting franchise right now, noticeably worse than they were when the season started. With George Kokinis fired as General Manager just a couple of weeks ago (for ’cause’), owner Randy Lerner is searching for a football czar -  a Bill Parcells-type figure who can come in and oversee a reemergence at the Dawg Pound. The only problem is, would anybody want to do it?

Looking at the Browns’ roster, there’s a huge lack of overall talent. Offensively, the team is pathetic. Brady Quinn returned to the starting lineup last night, but the 2007 first round pick hasn’t looked the part of franchise signal-caller just yet. I’m all for giving Quinn more time, but he hasn’t shown much to inspire confidence. Looking at the other skill positions, and I can see why. Jamal Lewis is used up as a running back, and he plans to retire after the season. Promising rookie James Davis, taken in the fifth round out of Clemson, had his season derailed by a questionable practice injury, and Jerome Harrison doesn’t look to have the makings of a feature back. At wide receiver, Cleveland dealt its only surefire talent in Braylon Edwards, and now entrusts its future to rookies Brian Robiskie and Mohamed Massaquoi, both second round picks. Massaquoi flashed considerable potential at Georgia, while Robiskie was considered the most pro-ready receiver in the draft. While the former has one stellar game on his resume, the latter hasn’t even been the best Ohio State rookie wide receiver this season (I’d give that to Brian Hartline of Miami, a fourth round pick). There is no talent to speak of at tight end, and apart from left tackle Joe Thomas, the offensive line is suspect for the long term.

On the defensive side of the ball, inside linebacker D’Qwell Jackson is an elite NFL talent. He covers a lot of ground, makes tackles, and is able to shed blocks when rushing the passer. Nose tackle Shaun Rogers is probably the best in the league at his position – when he tries. Rogers has always had motivation problems, dating back to his days in Detroit. But apart from those two players, there isn’t a whole lot to get excited about. Rush linebacker Kamerion Wimbley has regressed since his rookie season, and Eric Wright has talent at the cornerback position, but is too inconsistent. The rest of the unit is in serious need of a talent upgrade.

And then there’s the head coach. Eric Mangini demonstrated in New York that he wasn’t head coaching material, and he’s out to prove it again. He is the epitome of the moniker ‘mistake by the lake’. Any senior executive willing to take on this mess of a franchise would surely want to bring in their own man to run the show, much like Bill Parcells did with Tony Sparano. Now that the NFLPA is in town to investigate Mangini’s practice policies, it’s only a matter of time before the hammer falls on “Eric Man-genius”.

The only saving grace for Browns fans is that the NFL is a league ripe with quick turnarounds. Teams can turn the page in just a season or two (ex: the Atlanta Falcons), and Cleveland is still only two seasons removed for a ten win campaign. Help is on the way to the Dawg Pound, it’s just a matter of when.

TWO POINT CONVERSION

- farewell to Dick Jauron, who made some questionable personnel decisions in Buffalo, but also wasn’t blessed with the greatest collection of talent in the world. He managed to live with Terrell Owens, and for that he deserves a slow clap into the sunset

- wasn’t it just two offseasons ago Cincinnati was purging its roster of troubled players? Now they bring in Larry Johnson? I guess winning does right everything

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:

I’m guessing the people who are in charge of making the NFL schedule felt that Cleveland would be a far better team. How else can you explain the Monday night-er tonight? The Baltimore Ravens (4-4) making the trip to the Mistake by the Lake to take on the Browns (1-7). These two teams are at the bottom of the AFC North and are far from any post season aspirations. Cincinnati leads the division with a 7-2 record and Pittsburgh trails the Bengals by a game. Getting back to the Ravens and Browns, the last time these two teams met was in week 3 and Baltimore cruised to a 34-3 win. A similar result is expected tonight. The Browns are so bad, management has decided to give quarterback Brady Quinn a second chance at starting. In three starts this season (including week 3) Quinn has one touchdown pass, three interceptions and has been sacked 10 times. The Ravens haven’t been great either. They started the season strong, but have lost four of their last five. Running back Ray Rice has been one of the lone bright spots for the team. He’s rushed for 573 yards, caught 46 balls for another 436 yards and has scored six touchdowns. You can be sure he’ll get a lot of work tonight.

If this game doesn’t get you going you can also check out some NBA action. Two young and talented teams battle it out as the Portland Trailblazers are in the ATL to take on the Hawks. Atlanta (8-2) has the best record in the East, while Portland (8-3) is number two in the West.

On the ice it’s on Atlantic division battle as the top seed New Jersey Devils take on the Philadelphia Flyers in the City of Brotherly Love. If the Devils win tonight they open the season winning nine straight on the road, tying a league record for most wins on the road to start a season.

We’re entering Week Eight in the National Football League, and already there have been seven teams that have sent more than one quarterback under centre. Buffalo, Miami, Philadelphia, Detroit, and St. Louis have needed to make changes due to injury. In Miami, the shoulder injury suffered by Chad Pennington just brought the Chad Henne era to a start sooner than anticipated. Philadelphia, and St. Louis have gone back to their original starters, while Detroit will send Matt Stafford back out as soon as possible. Buffalo has an interesting decision to make with Trent Edwards when he recovers from a concussion, seeing as Ryan Fitzpatrick is 2-0. But it’s more interesting to look at the teams that have changed starters in hopes to turn their seasons around.

In Cleveland, Brady Quinn was given only two weeks by head coach Eric Mangini before he was pulled in favour of Derek Anderson. Anderson’s been far from capable of handling the job – two touchdowns, seven interceptions, and a 43.8 completion percentage. How is he still the starter? Well, I’ve been critical of Eric Mangini in the past, and I see no other person to blame for this move. There’s the conspiracy theory that owner Randy Lerner doesn’t want to pay the $11 million bonus due to Quinn if he plays 70% of the snaps, but winning has to take prescendence in the NFL. Quinn should be the starter, but it doesn’t look like he’ll be given another chance in Cleveland.

The Tennessee Titans announced today that Vince Young will take over for Kerry Collins, giving him a second tenure as a starting quarterback. With the Titans’ season pretty much over at 0-6, why not see if Young has anything left in the tank? Plus, it gives owner Bud Adams an opportunity to watch Young and find out whether or not he can lead this team in the future. His rookie contract carries a $7.5 million base salary in 2010, so if Young’s not the guy, then you can expect him to be given his walking papers next year.

And then there’s the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In the 2008 draft, they drafted Josh Johnson in the fifth round as a developmental quarterback. Onto the 2009 draft, and the Bucs decided to take Kansas State’s Josh Freeman with the 17th pick. And then they signed Byron Leftwich in the offseason to compete with Luke McCown as starting quarterback. McCown was released, Leftwich was benched after three games for Johnson, and now he’s been given the hook for Freeman. Normally, I’m all for teams seeing what they have in first round quarterbacks, but in this case, it’s way too early. Johnson is only 23 himself, and by allowing him to start for the rest of the season they could have increased his trade value, or opened up a competition between he and Freeman next offseason. Freeman is going to struggle on this terrible team, and his confidence will take a huge beating with the complete lack of offensive weapons in Tampa. Johnson was the way to go for the remainder of the year in Tampa, and rookie coach Raheem Morris is making a big mistake by giving up on a 23 year old quarterback already.

Of course there’s still the teams that should make a switch but haven’t (hello Oakland and Carolina), but that just opens up an entirely different can of worms.

TWO POINT CONVERSION

- the Chicago Bears owe a big thanks to the people who made their schedule. There’s no better remedy for a struggling defence than facing the Cleveland Browns (well, maybe facing JaMarcus Russell)

- Rex Ryan stopped the Wildcat last season when he was with Baltimore, but good luck to him stopping it this weekend. The Jets are currently the league’s 22nd rush defence, and are without their best run player in nose tackle in Kris Jenkins. Recipe for disaster