FanHouse CrisCarter

If the television thing doesn't work out for Cris Carter, he's got a future in motivational speaking. Carter was the final speaker at this week's NFL Rookie Symposium, and his message was what you might expect -- don't do drugs, don't fall for groupies, don't start a dog-fighting enterprise, so on and so forth -- but his delivery was what made it memorable.

It was part overdramatized reality teevee, part televangelist. No mention of living in a van down by the river, however. Either way, I think he got through to almost everybody.

On Thursday, we speculated about the possibility of Michael Crabtree being available when Green Bay picks ninth in the NFL Draft.

While many observers would probably double over in laughter if Green Bay actually made this selection, there is precedence for it in the Packers' own division. According to Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Packers may indeed pull the trigger if Crabtree is on the board.

TAMPA, Fla. -- I believe Cris Carter will one day be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But in talking to some Hall of Fame voters both before and after Saturday's selection meeting, I also believe that Carter, like fellow possession receiver Art Monk before him, will have a long wait before enshrinement in Canton.

TAMPA -- When the 44 members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Board of Selectors get together Saturday to choose the Class of 2009, the most hotly contested candidate is likely to be Cris Carter.

Calling Terrell Owens the "poison pill" in Dallas is one of the nicest things Keyshawn Johnson has said about the Cowboys receiver. And Cris Carter, not to be outdone by his ESPN colleague, has suggested that Jerry Jones should consider putting "a bullet in [T.O.]"

So it is with great mock stupefaction that I report that Johnson and Carter have double standards regarding moody NFL receivers. The Dallas Morning News' Barry Horn points out that during NFL Sunday Countdown, both Keyshawn and Cris backed Anquan Boldin in the aftermath of last Sunday's sideline confrontation with offensive coordinator Todd Haley.

Cris Carter recently said that if he was in charge of the Dallas Cowboys, he would take a bullet and put it in Terrell Owens. This wasn't smart, mainly because it implies that he would use violence as a solution for anything.

Naturally, T.O. -- who has nothing to do right now but stir up trouble -- responded. But not in the typical way you'd expect (sounding off to the media while doing push-ups, natch); nope, T.O. went out and got himself a blog at Yardbarker.

On Tuesday, the NFL announced the finalists for the 2009 Hall of Fame class, a list that contains the NFL's all-time sack leader, a current owner, a former commissioner, and six first-time finalists.

The voters will select a minimum of four and a maximum of seven new members on January 31. The complete list of finalists after the jump.

There are lots of things that shouldn't be said publicly about someone else. One basic genre of those things involves death or murder. And Cris Carter's recent statement -- on ESPN airwaves -- regarding Terrell Owens probably qualifies. See, Carter says that if he were in charge of the Cowboys, his first act would involve getting rid of the wideout with a "bullet." Carter says, "If it was me, I'd get rid of T.O. -- T.O. got to go from the beginning. Right from the giddy up. I take one bullet and put it right in him. Bam!" Listen for yourself.



It's all over the news, obviously, and that's because Carter is an idiot for saying this. Maybe it's a euphemism, and maybe our culture is far too PC these days, but still, you just don't say that you would do that to someone if you were in charge. Especially when you're paid to give a professional opinion about something. Ridiculous.

Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison has passed former Eagle/Vikings/Dolphin Cris Carter on the NFL's all-time receptions list, catching his 1,102nd career pass today against the Titans.

Harrison is now the NFL's No. 2 all-time receiver, but he has approximately zero chance of catching the all-time leader, former 49er/Raider/Seahawk Jerry Rice. With 1,549 career catches, Rice is still more than 400 catches ahead of the 36-year-old Harrison.

Harrison isn't a good player anymore, and it's possible that this is his last NFL season. The Colts are keeping a lot of their veteran players on the sideline today, and the fact that they left Harrison in the game long after Jim Sorgi had replaced Peyton Manning suggests that they wanted Harrison to pass Carter today because he might not have any more regular-season games in a Colts uniform.

But even if you're extremely optimistic about Harrison's future, and you think he has, say, three more seasons at 60 catches a season left in him, that still leaves him more than 250 short of Rice. That's just how great Jerry Rice was.

Last night I pointed out that Terrell Owens, according to sources, had concerns with how Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo was utilizing his awesomeness during games. No specifics, but some vague mention of being frustrated with his lack of touches (wait, what?), especially in the deep passing game.

Turns out, T.O. isn't upset with Dallas' offensive game plan, he's bummed that ESPN studio analyst Keyshawn Johnson, who Owens has affectionately taken to calling "Sheshawn", was critical of his play following the Redskins game.

No worries, though; T.O. WILL NOT BE SILENCED ON THIS VERY IMPORTANT MATTER:

Regarding Keyshawn Johnson, whom Owens' referred to as Sheshawn at least three times, he said: "[As the No. 1 overall pick in the 1996 draft] he is the ultimate underachiever on that panel. I am the reason he is in the booth. Everybody is aware when I was brought to Dallas he was the one they let go to get me here."

He said there was one thing he agreed with that [Cris] Carter had to say and that was that Jerry Rice is the best receiver of all time. "But I am second all time behind Jerry Rice," Owens said in accentuating his superiority over Carter and Johnson.

Two things: first, Dwayne Jarrett is the reason Keyshawn is "in the booth"; the Panthers drafted Jarrett in the second round of the 2007 draft, which ultimately led to Johnson's release -- or, asking to be cut, depending on who's telling the story -- and a second career in television.