FanHouse Grady Jackson

Training camps have wrapped up, the NFL season is right around the corner, and it's still hot as sin outside. But instead of cooling you off with a warm island song, FanHouse break out ye old heat check for our 2009 NFL Season Previews." We'll rate each club in 5 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Without playing a game, the Detroit Lions have matched their 2008 regular season win total. Naturally, this is an embarrassing fact, and one that Lions fans are probably sick of hearing. However, it also serves to show how easy it will be for head coach Jim Schwartz to be hailed as a genius this season. The Lions will win a game (or more!) in 2009, and Schwartz has done some things in the offseason to point this franchise in a positive direction. It's time now for the players to see the benefits of their hard work during the spring and summer.

A little more than a week before the start of training camp, the Rams ensured that they'd have a wide receiver whose name isn't meant with blank stares. St. Louis dealt defensive tackle Orien Harris to the Lions on Wednesday for Ronald Curry, a rare swap of two players who have never played a regular-season snap for the team that traded them.

Curry should slot in alongside Donnie Avery in the Rams' starting offense, which is a lot better situation than the one he left in Detroit. The Lions signed him in April, but he became an unneeded part after the team dealt for Dennis Northcutt in late June.

There were no bright spots in the 2008 Lions season, except that it ended. Predictably, coaches were fired, players were released and the arduous task of rebuilding is now underway. (Although, to be fair, Detroit has been rebuilding for the entire decade, but that was part of some Matt Millen master plan gone horribly wrong.)

Whatever, change is on the way, as they say. New head coach Jim Schwartz is young, smart and seemingly motivated. The Lions have yet to make headline-grabbing personnel moves, but they have signed wide receiver Bryant Johnson and running back Maurice Morris, and parted ways with over-the-hill Jon Kitna and the ineffective Leigh Bodden. And Wednesday, they also added defensive tackle Grady Jackson.

The NFL has suspended six players for four games apiece for using a banned substance.

The players are Saints defensive linemen Charles Grant and Will Smith, Saints running back Deuce McAllister, Vikings defensive tackles Kevin Williams and Pat Williams and Texans long snapper Brian Pittman.

The players all tested positive for the banned substance Bumetanide. They all appealed the suspensions, saying that Bumetanide is an ingredient in the over-the-counter supplement Star Caps, and that the NFL did not tell players that Star Caps is banned. But the NFL turned down their appeals.

Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jackson was not suspended even though it has been reported that he also tested positive for Bumetanide. The NFL did not explain why Jackson was not suspended.

UPDATE: The NFL's official announcement is below.

Grady Jackson is waiting to hear from the NFL about a potential four-game suspension after he apparently tested positive for a weight-loss pill that contains a substance that can also be used to mask steroids.

In Jackson's case, it's a pretty convincing easy to believe that Jackson was trying to shed a few of the 400+ pounds that make him morbidly obese rather than trying to mask a steroid--he's looked like a pregnant woman carrying twins for several years. Jackson is very strong, and he's pretty nimble for a defensive tackle his size, but mostly, he's really, really fat. And considering that Jackson has gotten plenty of heat for his weight in the past, it's not unlikely that he would be trying to figure out some kind of way to cut some weight.

Jackson's agent said that "He is not being suspended." But the agent wouldn't explain further, so it's not clear if that means that Jackson isn't suspended now, or that the NFL won't suspend him at all. It's worth nothing that usually the NFL doesn't care if you have an explanation for using an illegal substance, and it doesn't matter if you didn't know the ingredient was in a pill that it shouldn't have been in.

But if Jackson does end up being suspended, it would be a big loss for the Falcons. The Falcons run defense started to fall apart when Bobby Petrino was dumb enough to cut Jackson last year. This year the Falcons are a much better defense, but they're still not very deep, so it's not like the Falcons could easily find someone to fill Jackson's 35-40 snaps a game.

Grady Jackson isn't a great player, but he is a great example.

Jackson was exhibit A of Bobby Petrino's stupidity. With the team lacking in defensive tackles, Petrino decided to cut Jackson in the middle of the 2007 season. Atlanta's run defense suffered without Jackson, but hey, Petrino needed to prove he was the boss. It ended up working out pretty well for Jackson--he latched on with the Jaguars and got to go to the playoffs, while Petrino was proving that he's one of the worst NFL coaches we'll ever see.

And apparently, playing for the Jaguars was a good way to help Jackson get a job with the 2008 Falcons. New coach Mike Smith, the Jags defensive coordinator last year, apparently didn't have the same problems with Jackson that Petrino did, which explains why he signed Jackson yesterday.

The Dallas Morning News' Albert Breer is not impressed with you, Tiger Woods. Sure, you had a double stress fracture and a torn ACL, walked more than 21 miles over five days, and gave one of the grittiest performances in major championship history, but, apparently, it wasn't enough. You want tough? How about ... Philip Rivers? Really?

Breer tries to explain:

...[L]et's stop with all the breathless homages. Put the Purple Heart away. While there was some appreciation for it, I don't remember all this slobbering over someone going on in January, after Philip Rivers did something far more impressive. He played in a football game, in freezing conditions, against a 17-0 team through a similar injury.

Well, I did my fair share of slobbering, and I'm not even a Philip Rivers fan. That said, I think it's ridiculous to compare the two. Breer admits to appreciating Tiger's accomplishment, and calls the feat impressive, but adds, "Is [comparing Woods to Philips] even close. No. Way."

He falls into the lazy trap of saying that all Tiger did was "hit golf balls," because "last time I checked, there are plenty of people who aren't in very good physical condition who can endure 18 holes." First, did you really check? I'm guessing no. Second, have you seen Grady Jackson, Sebastian Janikowski or Jared Lorenzen? Am I grossly oversimplifying things? Exactly.

But Breer's readers make my point better than I do:

Falcons defensive tackle Trey Lewis looked like a nice find during his rookie season. It's too bad that he might not get a chance to make a encore appearance in 2008.

While simply walking down the stairs, Lewis tweaked his knee, re-injuring his ACL and putting his 2008 season in doubt. Lewis had first hurt the knee during the Bucs game last November.

For a sixth-round pick Lewis played very well last year, jumping into the starting lineup when coach Bobby Petrino stupidly waived Grady Jackson. Jackson then latched on with the Jaguars, where he played pretty well. Considering the Falcons gaping hole at defensive tackle (Jonathan Babineaux is the only other true DT on the current roster), could the Falcons bring back Grady Jackson? Obviously this is just speculation, but with so few options at defensive tackle, Jackson looks like a decent fit as a spot player, even if Atlanta goes out and nabs an early round defensive tackle to start.

Obviously there were some people in Atlanta who didn't like Jackson, but most of them have fled town now. If Smith had a good feeling about Jackson from their time together in Jacksonville, he is a solid free agent looking for work. Atlanta shouldn't be looking to lock up any old players for the long term, but as a stopgap there are worse options than Jackson.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are having a big game in Pittsburgh against the Steelers tonight, thanks in large part to their biggest player.

Grady Jackson, the defensive tackle who is listed at 362 pounds and probably weighs more than that, is having a huge game. On a first-and-10 early in the second quarter, Jackson burst through the line untouched and tackled Steelers running back Najeh Davenport for a loss of five yards. On the very next play he forced Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger out of the pocket, and as Roethlisberger hurried his throw on the run, his pass was intercepted. On the following series, Jackson collapsed the middle of the Steelers' offensive line on back-to-back plays

Jackson, you may recall, is the guy who was shipped out of Atlanta after seven games this season because Falcons coach Bobby Petrino didn't think he was good enough. That led to Falcons cornerback DeAngelo Hall ripping Petrino, and it contributed to the toxic atmosphere that made Petrino decide to go back to college.

Of course, the fact is, all 31 teams could have put in a waiver claim on Jackson, and none did. It was only after Jackson cleared waivers that the Jaguars picked him up. So it's not like Petrino's the only one who thought Jackson couldn't play anymore. But he's showing tonight that he can still play, and the Jaguars are benefiting from it, big time.

When the Falcons face the Colts, you would not expect to be more worried about their running game than their air attack. But with Marvin Harrison, Anthony Moorhead and potentially Anthony Gonzalez out, the Colts passing game is pretty banged up while Joseph Addai has been running wild all season.

And the Falcons' defensive line is even more banged up than the Colts receivers. The Falcons placed starting defensive tackles Trey Lewis and Rod Coleman on injured reserve yesterday. Throw in Bobby Petrino's stupid decision to waive starting tackle Grady Jackson last month and the Falcons will go into the rest of the season with their No. 4 and No. 5 defensive tackles, Montavious Staley and Jonathan Babineaux as the starters and street free agents as the backups.