While football scribes around the country debate just how close the supposed three-year, $58 million extension for New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is to actually happening, it appears that the primary target of New England's quarterbacks over the last three seasons isn't feeling the love.

"When you have done so much and put so much work in, it kind of feels like I am not wanted," Moss recently said in an exclusive interview with CBSSports.com's William Bendetson. "I am taking that in stride and playing my final year out and whatever the future holds is what it holds, but it is kind of a bad feeling -- feeling not wanted. It is not like my production has gone down. I am speaking from an individual standpoint. I don't know about Tom [Brady's] or whoever else's contract."

Brady's alleged extension aside, the Pats are already suffering a lot of roster turmoil. Guard Logan Mankins is in the middle of a contentious and protracted holdout. Defenders Ty Warren and Leigh Bodden are out for the year with injuries. The team has tried defensive plug-ins already, and on the offensive side, the Patriots still have an uncertain running game and the recovery of Wes Welker to think of. An unhappy Moss, who has raised Brady's totals from excellent to stratospheric since 2007 and kept the offense together when Brady was lost for the 2008 season to a knee injury, could be disastrous in the long term.

[Photos: See more of Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss]

The sad part is that Moss has seen this coming for some time. "You know the Patriots don't really pay," Moss told Christopher L. Gasper of the Boston Globe in February. "So when I got my second contract from them that was a blessing in disguise. I understand the business. I don't think they're going to re-sign me back. I'm not mad. I'm not bitter. It's just the way things are in this NFL, so like I said after this year I'll be looking for a new team. I think so."

Moss (who will make $6.4 million this season and will be a free agent in 2011) may be 33 years old, but expecting his numbers to drop due to age would be a mistake. He seems to have all the earmarks of the same kinds of age patterns enjoyed by Tim Brown and Jerry Rice. For all the legitimate questions about his motivation toward the end of his disastrous time with the Oakland Raiders, he's been as vital to the Pats as any non-quarterback could be, and he's obviously keeping himself in ridiculous shape. If you take out the 2007 season that had Moss and Brady putting up numbers reminiscent of Madden football on the "rookie" setting, 2009 saw Moss's highest totals for receptions (83), first downs (62) and receiving yards (1,264) since 2003, and most touchdowns (13) since 2004. Moss isn't just beating the age curve; he's swimming upstream.

The Patriots are noted for their ability to get rid of players just as they start to decline; it's been one of the hallmarks of Bill Belichick's tenure in New England. And it's worked for the most part. But just as Belichick waited too long to replace certain defensive cogs on the roster, he now may be dismissing Randy Moss too early. And if that's the case, the Patriots can expect a great season from their primary playmaker as Moss looks to prove a point and increase his value.

Maybe that's been Belichick's idea all along, but it's a dangerous game of chicken. If you're going to spend so much money on Tom Brady, why not throw some coin to the guy who would extend his career better than any other?

Randy Moss may have been a malcontent in the past, but this time, he's earned the benefit of the doubt.

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The Shutdown Eleven counts down a list of eleven NFL-related things, in order of the editor's preference. In this installment, we look at the most interesting players heading into the 2010 NFL season.

#8. Darrelle Revis.

Earlier drafts of this list had Revis much closer to the top, but honestly, he's less interesting now that he's signed and in uniform. If the holdout had continued, it would've been fascinating (unless you're a Jets fan) to see just how badly his absence would have crippled the merciless python that is the Jets defense.

If it's true that you don't know what you've got until it's gone, we could have found out for sure. And yes, we already know that Revis is superb, but that he didn't win last year's Defensive Player of the Year award shows that the message hasn't been hammered home hard enough.

But now he's back where he should be -- locking down entire halves of the playing field, and not screaming at innocent soccer moms at Dick's Sporting Goods. In the end, of course, that's better -- we want the best players on the field, and the best overall football product we can get. Having the league's best defender sitting at home, while it might've been interesting to see the effects for a few games, would've made us all poorer as football fans.

Previously:
11. Sam Bradford.
10. LaDainian Tomlinson.
9. Brett Favre.

-- Multiple reports came out Tuesday morning indicating that the Washington Redskins and Tennessee Titans have apparently been discussing a trade that could send notably disgruntled defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth back to his first NFL team. Haynesworth, who signed a seven-year, $100 million contract in 2009 and accepted a $21 million roster bonus in April of 2010, has balked at the team's new 3-4 defense. There has been concern that Haynesworth's "awful" effort in the Redskins' final preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals would lead to his benching or inactive status in the regular-season opener against the Dallas Cowboys. If this trade is actually in motion, you'd think that Mike Shanahan would want Haynesworth out of the picture and off the roster by Sunday morning. It'd be a good short-term deal for the Titans -- Haynesworth is scheduled to make just $3.5 million in base salary in 2010, and the Redskins have already put themselves on the hook for much of the guaranteed portion of the contract. As a result, it would be much easier to simply cut the player if his effort is found to be lacking in the future (which it almost certainly will be).

-- One player who has lived up to his current contract, and is about to get a new one, is New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Mr. Fabulous is reportedly about to get a three-year, $58 million contract extension. Guaranteed money is unknown, but shorter-term extensions (like the one recently given to New York Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis) generally pack a lot of upfront money in the deal. Brady was set to make $6.5 million this season ($3.5 million base and a $3 million roster bonus), so this would be far more in line with what he brings to the team. Unlike many players, and perhaps because he knew the Pats were going to cough up the dough in his case, Brady has been very quiet about the situation. "Certainly, that's everybody's goal," he told the Boston Herald about his desire to finish his career in Foxboro. "That's Troy Brown's goal. That's Tedy Bruschi's goal. A lot of people have that. At the same time, I know that I'm playing this year, hopefully ... it's still my responsibility to come out and earn a job and do the best that I can do. That's really my focus."

-- Yahoo! Sports uber-reporters Charles Robinson and Jason Cole broke the news that the Heisman Trust is voiding the Heisman Trophy won by USC running back Reggie Bush in 2005. This is the first time in the 75-year history of the Heisman that a player has been stripped of the award. Bush was found to have been in violation of several different NCAA rules during his time at USC, and because he was technically (though retroactively) ineligible in his 2005 campaign, there's no point in giving a trophy to a guy who doesn't exist. Bush, who is preparing for the New Orleans Saints' season opener against the Minnesota Vikings, could not immediately be reached for comment. Current Titans (and former Texas Longhorns) quarterback Vince Young, who finished second in the 2005 voting and has already said that he would not want the award were it offered to him, will not get the chance to refuse it -- the 2005 Heisman will simply remain vacant for all time.

The Shutdown Eleven counts down a list of eleven NFL-related things, in order of the editor's preference. In this installment, we look at the most interesting players heading into the 2010 NFL season.

#9. Brett Favre

The nine-spot might seem a little low for a man who's gone out of his way to make himself the biggest spectacle in sports, but at this point, Brett Favre is Hulk Hogan. You can try to make it different -- put him up against different villains, change his outfit a little bit -- but at the end of the day, you're going to get the same big-boot/leg-drop combo you've gotten for decades.

That doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing. Brett Favre's leg drop was just as effective in 2009 as Hulk Hogan's was against the Iron Sheik in 1984.

But nothing lasts forever. Sooner or later, Favre's going to get to where Hogan is now, bottoming out on some third-rate show watched weekly by about 19 people. The questions for Favre are 1) Is that year 2010?; and 2) Will his gimped-up ankle speed the process towards "Come on, someone get this old man off my TV" territory?

If not, and Favre can put up a season anywhere close to his 2009, the Vikings are Super Bowl contenders. Perhaps even favorites. But if he's not as sharp as he was, or he can't stay on the field, then the Vikings will have gone through an awful lot of drama for nothing.

Previously:
11. Sam Bradford.
10. LaDainian Tomlinson.

RENTON, Wash. -- When Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll was hired in January of 2010, he brought an "Always Compete" mantra back to the NFL after a decade at USC. The weekend leading up to Seattle's final preseason roster cuts was as drastic as had been seen in several seasons, bringing that competitive spirit to the surface. New general manager John Schneider bought into the concept, and the new Seahawks started out with no scholarships, no contract-related keepers, and very little dead weight. Now that the purging of the faulty roster constructed by former team president Tim Ruskell from 2005 through 2009 is complete, a newer, younger, faster, and more physically talented team is the goal -- in the short and long term.

The question is, will there be enough of that talent to run this new roster through the NFC West? Or did Carroll and Schneider cut too much? Several of the moves, such as the trade of cornerback Josh Wilson to the Baltimore Ravens, and the release of receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh, and other, smaller transactions -- 41 in all over the last three days -- seemed to leave the team in the debit department when it came to proven producers.

But that was exactly the point. The Seahawks released Houshmandzadeh despite the fact that they still owe him over $6 million for 2010 after he signed with the Ravens, because they wanted to give their younger players more of a chance. For a team that has won nine games in the last two seasons, it has to be about retooling instead of contending.

At a Monday pre-practice press conference -- his first public comments since the blizzard of transactions -- Schneider tried to catch everybody up.

"It was really just playing the young guys," he said of the Houshmandzadeh move. "Much like with Josh, we felt like there was a group of guys behind him that were ready to take a step forward. T.J. is a good football player, he just happens to be a little bit older than the other guys, and we had some guys -- Mike Williams and Deon Butler and Ben Obomanu -- we had some guys step forward.

"This is always the toughest time of the year, when you're releasing players and going from 75 to 53," he continued. "There are three major ways to improve your team -- the draft, free agency and trades. And it's just so hard at the 53-man cut, because you have so many guys who have busted their tails, put blood, sweat and tears into it, players and coaches putting in long hours.

"It's also the most exciting part -- it's all wrapped up in one weekend. It's amazing, because you go back and forth ... it's literally like draft weekend for us, because we're very excited about some of the acquisitions that have been going on. And on the other end of it, you're talking about having to sit down with grown men who have the talent to play in the National Football League that you have to let go.

"If you have a coaching staff that is willing to move forward and teach and put in the extra time to get new players ready, it can be an extremely exciting time to add players. This is not a patch. We're trying to build."

And why wait so long to make so many changes? "You're talking about proven veterans, and this is a full evaluation. You've got to take it all the way to the end to find out if you're making the right decisions. Do we have a philosophy? Absolutely, but you can't just go cutting down the forest like you have all the answers. We need to see the whole movie."

Of course, there are times when such speed can lead to misfires -- it wasn't the team's fault that running back Julius Jones was reported to be released, but somebody jumped the gun and reported it, which got back to the veteran running back.

"I apologized to Julius yesterday," Schneider said. "I had no idea how that got out there, or if that was some angle or whatever's happened. I apologized to him for it and he's here."

Jones, asked after Monday's practice, didn't seem to mind. "We're back to business today, and everything I heard was false," he said. "I got a lot of phone calls and text messages, but I'm still here. There are a lot of new faces -- a lot of new guys especially on the offensive line. A couple of new running backs, but we're going to work it out. The core guys have been here since the spring, and we have everything pretty much down pat, and this is our opportunity to get these new guys ready to play.

"Nothing can really frustrate me or get under my skin," Jones said of the reports. "I've seen everything, and my brother [running back Thomas Jones, currently with the Kansas City Chiefs] has been through everything -- nothing surprises me. We talked, and [Schneider] apologized for everything that happened. It's water under the bridge. My main focus is on football; the off-the-field things I can't control. My job is to do what I'm asked to do on the field."

Of course, roster blowups often lead to Cinderella stories. The surprise retirement of offensive line coach Alex Gibbs had Carroll calling Pat Ruel, whom he's known for decades. Ruel was Carroll's last line coach at USC, but with Gibbs in Seattle and a new SC staff in place, Ruel was cooling his heels with the Omaha Nighthawks of the UFL.

"[Carroll] picked me up on waivers from another team," Ruel joked. "It is a well-run organization -- the GM is Ted Sundquist, who used to be the GM in Denver. We had Jeff Garcia as our quarterback, Ahman Green -- we had some good people. But I've known coach Carroll for a long time, and I believe in his whole philosophy and the way he does things. He gave me a call, and that was about it; it didn't take much. I was committed to the Nighthawks, and it was very hard leaving that situation, but at this stage, I wanted to get back in the NFL, and coach gave me that opportunity."

Ruel said that when he first got the call form Carroll, he thought the Seahawks were looking at his offensive linemen.

Perhaps the best story of this year's Seahawks team has been receiver Mike Williams, whose ascent made the Houshmandzadeh release palatable. Williams was selected 10th overall in the 2005 NFL draft by the Matt Millen-led Detroit Lions, eventually washed out of the NFL, and spent the last two seasons overweight and out of the game. But he turned his life around, and he's been a point of pride for his new organization. Still, as Carroll said Monday of his old USC receiver, caution is the buzzword.

"Mike Williams to me is really like a rookie," Carroll said. "And I know he has a couple years of kind of bouncing around, but this is really his official start as far as I'm concerned. And he has done everything we've asked of him. He's had a great offseason, a fantastic camp, he's performed well in the games, he's as fit as he's ever been as a pro, and he's ready to do this."

Williams was happy to be part of that new start, but he also understands the cruel underbelly of those roster cuts. He's seen them before, and that specter has tempered his own enthusiasm to a degree. "I don't really think about that," he said of his rebound being the reason the team felt comfortable moving forward without Houshmandzadeh. "I didn't know what was going to happen -- as much as everyone said that I was going to be around here, I didn't know. I'm human, just like everybody else. I heard trade talks and everything else, but I just tried to take care of my business and now that the season's here, I just have to move forward and make the most of it."

The Seahawks will welcome the San Francisco 49ers to their home turf on Sunday. You may need a program to identify the players, but the Seahawks are OK with that. They sell programs at Qwest Field, too.

You know what, sports fans? Yahoo! has invaded Canada once again. It was bad enough when we took on the NHL with the proto-awesome Puck Daddy blog; now we've got the Canadian Football League in a headlock with 55-Yard Line, our new blog about those three-down guys playing on that too-big field. I asked Andrew Bucholtz, the guy responsible for this latest development, to explain himself and tell you why you'll want to be checking out 55-Yard Line on a regular basis.

Q: First of all, welcome to the football side of Yahoo! Sports. Tell us a little about yourself - where have you been, what have you been doing, and why will we want to bookmark the new CFL blog as you get going?

A: Thanks! I'm very excited to be on board. I've got a background in both the traditional mainstream media and the blogosphere. I spent three years at the Queen's Journal, the student paper of Queen's University, and served as both the assistant sports editor and the sports editor during my time there. For the last 15 months or so, I've been working as a roving reporter for the Black Press chain of community newspapers in B.C., covering news, business, sports and arts. I've also been running a general sports blog over at Sporting Madness for five years, and that's led to various other blogging opportunities, including covering professional soccer in Canada for The 24th Minute and World Soccer Reader and helping to lead the team that covers Canadian Interuniversity Sport (our equivalent of the NCAA) over at The CIS Blog.

With the new blog, I'd like to use some of that range of experience to bring different angles to the traditional CFL coverage; I don't want to just talk about who won each week, but rather some of the different personalities and issues involved. A key focus for me is going to be connections to both Canadian and American university football, as well as the NFL; I'm hoping people will want to read about how NCAA stars of the past are adapting to the Canadian game, as well as which CFL players might wind up on NFL rosters in the near future.

Q: Let's talk about the strategic differences between the NFL and the CFL - your league's field is longer and wider, and the receivers are running before the snap. What other differences are there?

A: Probably the biggest difference is that Canadian football features three downs instead of four. That leads to a huge emphasis on the pass, as you have to pick up 10 yards for a first down in just two plays instead of three. Just about every play is run from a shotgun formation. There are also 12 men on each side of the ball, which alters formations and tactics significantly.

There's a neutral zone of a full yard between the offensive and defensive lines prior to the snap, which can make it easier to pick up short yardage. You can pick up a single point (or rouge) by kicking the ball through the end zone on either a punt or a missed field goal, or having the defensive team decline to return either out of their end zone (they can receive more advantageous field position if they don't). The clock also stops more in Canadian football, which often combines with the focus on big passing plays to lead to late comebacks. There are very few CFL leads that are safe, which makes a lot of the games fun to watch from start to finish.

Q: In the article you recently helped me with (and thank you, good sir), we discussed the slotback position, and I got the impression that it's a combination between a flex tight end (think Dallas Clark in the slot) and a slot receiver like Wes Welker. Is that pretty accurate?

A: It is in terms of some of the routes that they run; slotbacks often focus on short curls or crossing routes over the middle the way Welker and Clark do, but they also often go deep. However, CFL teams don't usually carry a tight end, and they don't usually put anyone on the end of the line, so you won't see slotbacks blocking the way TEs do. In fact, there usually aren't significant physical differences between slotbacks and wide receiver; the distinction's just where they line up, so you can have slotbacks running go routes and wide receivers running short crossing patterns.

Another difference between slotbacks and Welker/Clark types is that the latter usually tend to be complementary receivers to a Randy Moss or a Reggie Wayne, while several CFL teams have slotbacks as their leading receivers. CFL teams usually go four or five receivers wide on each play, with two wide receivers lining up near the sidelines and two or three slotbacks moving around the middle of the field. Here's a good photo illustrating a typical pre-snap alignment of receivers and slotbacks from a 2006 CIS game between the University of Alberta Golden Bears and the University of Calgary Dinos.

Q: Who are the five best players in the CFL right now?

A: That's a tough question, given the difficulty of comparing players across positions. I chose to go with a top player from each of five different positions. You can make an argument for quite a number of players, but here's the five I came up with:

Anthony Calvillo, QB, Montreal: Utah State product Calvillo, who started his CFL career with the Las Vegas Posse in 1994 during the league's brief foray into American markets, has been the most consistent and most dominant quarterback in the CFL for much of the last decade. He's led the Alouettes to seven Grey Cup games, and they've claimed the silverware in two (2002 and last year). The team's considerably less impressive without him, though; with Calvillo injured this week, former Florida quarterback Chris Leak and the Alouettes got blown out 38-17 by the basement-dwelling B.C. Lions.

Cory Boyd, RB, Toronto: Boyd, a former South Carolina Gamecock, is the main reason for the Argonauts' turnaround this season. They were 3-15 in 2009, but go into today's Labour Day Classic against Hamilton (which we'll be live-blogging at The 55-Yard Line at 2:30 p.m. Eastern) with a 5-3 record. Boyd leads his team and the league with 792 rushing yards on 133 carries (a 6.0 yards-per-carry average), more than 100 yards ahead of his nearest rival. He also has 14 receptions for 102 yards.

Arland Bruce III, WR, Hamilton: Former Minnesota Golden Gopher Bruce, long one of the CFL's most talented and colourful receivers (see his 2007 Spiderman celebration), has toned down his talk and cranked up his play this year, and is back to the form . He's already made 53 catches for a league-leading 812 yards, including 16 for 272 yards in one game, the sixth-highest total in league history. When he's on his game, he's almost impossible to cover.

James Patrick, CB, Saskatchewan: The hockey player of the same name is probably more famous in Canada, but Patrick's quietly making his own mark this year. From Tuscaloosa's Division II Stillman Tigers, he leads the CFL with seven interceptions. He also has one defensive touchdown off an interception return, 37 tackles and a fumble recovery.

Phillip Hunt, DE, Winnipeg: The Houston Cougars are more known for churning out high-octane passing offences than sack leaders these days, but one of their former players is making them proud. Hunt is tearing up the CFL in his second year with a league-leading eight sacks. He also has 25 tackles and a fumble recovery.

Q: Please finish this sentence, and feel free to elaborate: The current Grey Cup champions (the best CFL team) would be competitive with:

a. The worst NFL team;
b. The best UFL team
c. A leading major college team like Alabama or Oklahoma.

A: A lot depends on the rules you're playing by. Any of those teams would have difficulty adapting to the Canadian game, as has been frequently shown by the number of NCAA stars who have had a tough time trying to adjust to the CFL, and I'd venture that the top CFL team could beat any of them under Canadian rules (if you just played a game without extensive practices to adapt). On the other hand, any CFL team would likely fall to any of those teams under American rules.

If you take the rule considerations out of it and evaluate on a strictly talent standpoint, the top CFL team would probably lose to the worst NFL team. The game against the best UFL team could go either way, as their rosters look reasonably similar in talent to those found in the CFL. I think a top CFL team could come away with a victory against a major college team given the professional players' greater maturity and experience; from a pure talent standpoint, it's probably a draw (the college team would likely have more top-end players, but the CFL team would have better depth).

Q: Are there any schematic things about the league we'd be surprised by? Anything about the way the CFL does things that makes the game more exciting and fun?

A: I've mentioned a bunch of them already, including the emphasis on passing, but something I personally find very surprising is that formations don't tend to change drastically from team to team, unlike in the NCAA and NFL. For example, every CFL team tends to use four defensive linemen in base sets, unlike the NFL's mix of 3-4 and 4-3 fronts. Most offensive sets look pretty similar too with one or two backs and four or five receivers. That doesn't make the game boring, though; there's a lot of room for innovation within those basic parameters, and the high-scoring nature of the game combine with the differing rules on when the clock stops to often cause dramatic finishes.

Something else that might surprise American readers is that CFL players are, on the whole, smaller than their positional counterparts in the NFL: for example, 6'3'', 250-pound Cameron Wake tore up the CFL as a defensive end, but played linebacker in college and returned to that position in the NFL. Many CFL quarterbacks are quite short (Kevin Glenn of the Ti-Cats is 5'10), and running backs as small as Stefan Logan (5'6'', 177) have frequently made significant impacts up north. The CFL's more a league of athleticism than brute force, but there are still plenty of bone-crunching hits to be seen too.

Q: When you think about players like Anthony Calvillo and Milt Stegall, guys who spent years and years in the CFL and played at a very high level, is it more that they just found their ceilings in the CFL, or is it that they found a comfort level and didn't want to take the risk? Who are some other CFL all-timers?

A: A lot of it depends on the specific circumstances involved in each case, but I think many of the top CFL players like Calvillo, Stegall and Damon Allen (brother of NFL hall-of-famer Marcus Allen and professional football's all-time leading passer) could have made it in the NFL if they had received the chance. That doesn't mean they made the wrong move by staying in Canada, though, as they might not have had much of an opportunity even if they jumped at an NFL offer. Ricky Ray tore up the CFL early in his career and chose to give the NFL a try after receiving tons of offers, but wound up buried on the Jets' depth chart behind Chad Pennington and Quincy Carter.

The NFL spends a lot of time and money on talent evaluation, but it's still a very imperfect science, and players' true skills are often only shown when they're given an opportunity to show what they can do in games. Coaches and GMs also have more of their reputation at stake with draft picks than they do with free agents brought in from the CFL, so CFL players who have plenty of talent can still struggle to make 53-man rosters. We'll never know how some of the CFL greats might have done if they tried to catch on in the NFL, but the odds can be pretty tough to overcome, and they had very memorable careers up here.

Q: Speaking of Milt Stegall, he once said: "There's only six guarantees in this world. Death, taxes, trouble, Milt Stegall being on time, Milt Stegall being pretty, Milt Stegall being in tip-top shape. There are only six guarantees." Is Milt Stegall the coolest person in CFL history? Of course he is.

A: Stegall's certainly up there (and he's maintaining that reputation as an analyst for CFL games on TSN these days), but the league has had some tremendous characters over the years. What I'd probably choose as the all-time peak of CFL coolness would be the 1991 Toronto Argonauts, owned by Wayne Gretzky, John Candy and Bruce McNall and featuring Rocket Ismail, who they actually outbid the NFL for.

Q: The league has gone through some rough transitions in the last two decades - there was an expansion into an America, and financial problems around that - and the NFL stepped in and loaned the league money in the mid-1990s so that it could stay solvent. But it seems that things have turned around, with new stadiums and an expansion team on board. Where is the league now, and does it have a solid future?

A: I think the league's on solid ground at the moment. TV ratings are great (often with 800,000 to a million viewers per game, which is pretty significant in a country of 34 million people), gate revenues and merchandise sales are strong in most markets, and there are committed and passionate owners for every team. There's a lot of interest in the CFL from fans and media outlets across the country, and that's great to see. Ottawa's set to join the league in a couple of years, and there are discussions around expanding to the Maritimes and Quebec City.

The league seems to be taking its time to get each situation right, though, rather than handing out franchises to whoever throws money at them the way they did during the U.S. expansion days. The league also signed a new four-year CBA with the players earlier this year, which should ensure labour peace for a while. The one key area of concern at the moment is the situation around a new stadium in Hamilton, which has led to threats to move the Tiger-Cats, but both sides are discussing compromises and it seems possible we could still see a settlement reached. Despite that turmoil, the league as a whole looks to be in very good shape for the upcoming future.

Q: That loan from the NFL led to an agreement between the two leagues that allowed an option window in which CFL players could take an advantage of pipeline to the NFL. The new CFL CBA, ratified just this year, has shut that off. Do you think this will affect the level of talent the league is able to acquire?

A: It certainly could. This isn't going to completely prevent CFL players from jumping to the NFL, but it will make it more difficult, and getting back on the NFL radar has always been a key motivation for many CFL players. I don't think the impact is necessarily going to be too drastic, though, as there's a lot of untapped talent still out there; I talked about how making an NFL roster can be a function of opportunity rather than talent earlier, and the same holds true in the CFL.

There are plenty of very skilled players who never quite find regular roles with one team or another, and some of them may step up if other players elect to stay away from the CFL. A lot of the impact of this change also depends on the alternatives available to players: if the UFL is able to stay financially healthy and continues to allow easy exits back to the NFL, it may draw off more talent from the CFL; if it fails down the road, many of those players may come to the CFL despite the lack of the option year. I don't think this change is going to cause a CFL talent crisis, but it will be a situation to watch.

Q: I'm assuming that hockey is still Canada's primary sport - where does the CFL stand in the heart of the country? Is it a major thing like football/baseball/basketball in the U.S., or more a secondary sport from a popularity standpoint?

A: A lot of the CFL's popularity depends on what area of Canada you're in. In Saskatchewan, where there's no NHL team, the CFL is the dominant sport; in Toronto, where it has to compete with the NHL, the NBA and MLB, it's much further off the radar. Overall, TV ratings and other metrics would suggest that it's the most popular sport in the summer, and it still does pretty well in the fall. On a national scale, it's probably the second-biggest sport behind the NHL, but that's with the caveat that it's incredibly popular in some regions and very tertiary in others.

Q: Is the NFL a big deal in Canada, or do people generally stick to their own brand of football?

A: The NFL is a big deal here, and don't let some lackluster attendance numbers for the Bills in Toronto fool you; Canadians are smart enough to realize that the Bills are lousy, NFL preseason games aren't worth hefty admission prices and there's a better NFL game-day experience available just hours down the road in Orchard Park, NY. NFL games consistently pull in solid TV ratings in Canada, and the Bills, Lions and Seahawks among others all draw plenty of cross-border fans on game days. That doesn't mean the NFL trumps the CFL in Canada, though. For a while, fans of the two leagues were deeply divided, but these days, we're seeing more and more people who appreciate what both leagues have to offer.

Q: I have three more general Canadian questions:

1. Do you guys really say, "Eh" at the end of every sentence, or is that one of those goofy stereotypes that has ballooned out of control?

That depends on the person. I tend to use "eh" quite a bit, but I know lots of Canadians who don't. It's a useful interjection, though, and it can make anything into a question, eh?

2. What's the deal with bacon up there?

That's actually a bit more of a misconception than "Eh". Yes, we do have back bacon (often called Canadian bacon) up here, but if you see just "Bacon" on a menu, it's probably the stuff you're used to in the States. I'm a fan of both varieties, personally.

3. Please explain why the Tea Party (the awesome Canadian band, not the controversial American political movement) never made it down here. I thought they might be the next Rush, and they wound up about as popular as Coney Hatch in America.

I quite liked The Tea Party (the band, not the movement) during their heyday, but I'm not sure why they never caught on stateside. Canadian bands finding success in the U.S. has always been a bit of a hit-and-miss proposition; some great artists like Neil Young, Tom Cochrane and Randy Bachman became huge south of the border, but others like the Tea Party and Moxy Fruvous never really seemed to fiind an audience in the U.S. Still, things seem to be turning around, as tons of talented Canadian bands are finding huge success in the U.S. these days (Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, Metric and more). Meanwhile, we blame America for the popularity of Celine Dion. Nickelback and Justin Bieber; you can keep them!

Oh, well -- at least you like Rush.

-- This Labor Day Deep Posts is, in part, about those names you're not seeing in certain places. We'll start with San Diego Chargers receiver Vincent Jackson, whose holdout continues. Pro Football Talk reported over the weekend that Jackson's representatives had a one-year deal worked out with another team, but talks are now dead. Smith had granted permission for Jackson to broker deals around the NFL pending his approval of said deals, but given Smith's reputation as a hard-line guy, one wouldn't have been surprised if Smith did that knowing full well that no team would meet his price in trade. However, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that it was Jackson's asking price that killed the deal, and that the team's demands in trade have decreased. Jackson is currently inactive through week six - he's on the team's roster exempt list - but the NFLPA would probably like to argue that a trade would negate that status.

-- Speaking of guys not where they're expected to be, the Pittsburgh Steelers announced their 2010 team captains today: Receiver Hines Ward, tight end Heath Miller, linebacker James Farrior, and special teams maven Keyaron Fox. Hmmm ... notice anyone missing? I wonder if the quarterback-free list will be revised when Ben Roethlisberger returns to the team in Week 5, or if the Steelers realized the potential PR boo-boo it would be to hold up Big Ben as an example of all that is good and right with the franchise's name. (H/T to Bob McLaughlin of FOX 970 in Pittsburgh for that news)

-- Many thought that exiled Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart would wind up with Pete Carroll in Seattle, but the Seahawks have been too busy blowing up pretty much their entire roster to notice that Carroll's former Heisman winner at USC was on the open market. Instead, Leinart will head to the Houston Texans, which features an offense allegedly more friendly to Leinart's abilities. I would think that any offense that runs the ball a LOT would be most friendly to Leinart's current abilities, but that's just me.

-- One of Seattle's roster casualties, receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh, has signed with the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens get Housh for the vet minimum because former Seahawks GM Tim Ruskell signed off on offset language in the five-year, $40 million contract Houshmandzadeh signed just last year. The Seahawks will be billed for the remainder of Housh's $7 million 2010 guarantee. As any beleagured Seahawks fan would tell you, this is reason #2,619,348,034,765 that Tim Ruskell no longer has the contract pen in his hand with any NFL team.

-- And here's a guy you probably won't see when the Washington Redskins face the Dallas Cowboys in their season opener this Sunday: our favorite D.C. malcontent, Albert Haynesworth. Coaches deemed his performance against the Arizona Cardinals "awful" (hard to argue; he looked like he was waiting in line at the DMV when he was on the field), and that Haynesworth failed to give maximum effort on 49 of 55 defensive plays in which he was involved. As a result, it's quite possible that Haynesworth will be listed as inactive, or simply benched, against the Cowboys. Head coach Mike Shanahan was trying to make a point by putting Haynesworth in for major reps late in the final preseason game (where the scrubs usually reside), but Haynesworth should have taken the hint and stepped it up. The only question is, how long will the Redskins limp along with this situation? Could it ruin a promising season?

After a prolonged holdout, the New York Jets and elite cornerback Darrelle Revis have agreed to terms on a new four-year, $46 million deal. $32 million of the contract is guaranteed, as reported by Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News.

"I think it's a it's a great deal for Darrelle. I think it's a responsible deal for the team." Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum was quoted as saying. "I'm happy. I'm relieved. Darrelle's a great player. He's our guy ... I really wasn't optimistic.... Until it was done, I really didn't think he'd be here."

Tannenbaum also said that the Jets explored trade options for other cornerbacks in recent days, according to Mehta.

[Photos: See more images of Jets star Darrelle Revis]

Revis' absence has been one of the primary storylines of the offseason, especially when the Jets' "Hard Knocks" series started a month ago on HBO. Though the team added ex-Chargers cornerback Antonio Cromartie in the offseason, New York's preseason defense had been just better than average against the pass after ranking first overall in 2009. Revis was the main reason, as he spent his entire season shutting down elite receivers like Randy Moss and Andre Johnson.

Apparently, the move that sealed the deal was a visit to Revis in South Florida on Sunday by head coach Rex Ryan. Revis is expected to fly to New York and sign his new contract in time to take the field when the Jets face the Baltimore Ravens for the opening weekend of Monday Night football.

Revis' current contract was set to pay him $15 million over the next three seasons, and just $1 million in 2010. When Oakland cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha signed a three-year, $45.3 million deal in 2009, Revis and his representatives set their price - Revis wanted to be the highest-paid cornerback in the game.

The deal gives the Jets an even more formidable secondary than last season - Revis and Cromartie will be joined by rookie Kyle Wilson, the excellent cornerback from Boise State who had played very well in Revis' stead.

And here's the confirmation, via Revis' own Twitter account (and a nod to Chad Ochocinco's OCNN network!)

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Here's an interesting job description.

WANTED: Oversized, freakishly athletic (and currently unemployed) football players looking to make new friends and help NFL franchises at the developmental level. Must be willing to sublimate your ego for the good of the group, wear silly mesh pullovers, and pretend to be opposing players a lot of the time. Chances of Sunday afternoon facetime: minimal. Chances of getting lost in the shuffle: decent. Pay is quite good -- and as they said in "Bull Durham", it beats selling Lady Kenmores.

Does this sound like a gig for you? Then you, my recently cut-by-an-NFL-team friend, are ready to become part of an NFL practice squad. The league has been putting together their practice squads Sunday after final cuts came Saturday evening, and each team will sign eight free agents to theirs. Practice squad players will make a minimum of $5,200 per week as long as on they're on an NFL roster, and they can be signed by another team if that team intends to move them to the active roster. While on the practice squad, a player will take place in all weekly activities (practice, film, meals, training, etc,), but are not allowed to play in games.

[NFL Week 1 predictions. Who will win?]

Quite often in practice, they're on the squad teams, and are responsible for simulating opposing players for the next week's game. If you see a guy on the field with the normal shorts and shells, and a mesh pullover with a jersey number that isn't his, that's a practice squad player.

"You can't play the depth chart game, the roster game," Miami Dolphins running back Lex Hilliard told the Flathead Beacon in March of this year. "If you try to do that it, will drive you nuts. You just go out and play."Hilliard spent his first full NFL season on Miami's practice squad after being selected in the sixth round of the 2008 NFL draft. "I prided myself in going out there and making the first-string guys better."

And that's what practice squad guys have to do - make the first-teamers better. If they do it well enough, and long enough, they might get a bump themselves. Hilliard is now a productive member of the Dolphins' running back rotation and special teams units. Here are five members of this year's practice squad club who could find a way to stand out and rise up through the ranks:

RB Joique Bell, Buffalo Bills: The former Wayne State product showed a lot in the preseason, rushing for 152 yards and two touchdowns on just 27 carries (5.6 YPC). Bell is a big back (5-foot-11, 220) with nice agility, but he was cut out of Buffalo's roster in a numbers game. Any team looking for an inside bruiser could do a lot worse.

TE Chase Coffman, Cincinnati Bengals: This former spread offense tight end at Missouri was aced out by Jermaine Gresham, but he'd be a decent straight-line option in the right situation. Bengals offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski said that Coffman impressed him with his development in his second NFL season.

RB Ryan Torain, Washington Redskins: Torain excelled in limited time for Mike Shanahan in Denver, and he's conversant enough with the offensive system and zone blocking looks to get some in-season reps if the Clinton Portis/Larry Johnson rotation breaks down.

DE Hall Davis, Tennessee Titans: Davis put up two sacks early on this preseason for the Rams before a controversial trade brought him to the Redskins. Cut from Washington one day later, Davis could help a Titans line still looking to re-tool after the losses of Kyle Vanden Bosch and Albert Haynesworth over the last two seasons.

DE Jarron Gilbert, New York Jets: Word is that Rex Ryan took a real interest in the 6-foot-5, 288-pound Gilbert coming out of San Jose State, and the Jets are in need of an athletic 3-4 with Calvin Pace hurt. He was never a good fit with the Bears from a schematic angle, and if anyone can coach him up to play defense in the NFL, Rex can. Of course, observant draftniks will remember the real reason Gilbert's famous - this YouTube video in which he jumped out of a pool:

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As expected, Seattle Seahawks receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart were the highest-profile players to lose their current spots as NFL teams reduced their rosters to 53 names by 6:00 EDT on Saturday afternoon. Houshmandzadeh was a bad fit with a new Seattle organization, and Leinart simply never lived up to the expectations that go with the top-10 pick status he received in 2006. Rookie free agent Max Hall clearly outplayed Leinart, and reclamation project Mike Williams helped make Houshmandzadeh expendable.

And before you think, "Well, Leinart went to USC and was coached by Pete Carroll, so Leinart will land in Seattle," keep in mind that just-released quarterback Patrick Ramsey, formerly of the Saints, played for the Denver Broncos in 2007 and 2008 when current offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates was there. Ramsey seems a more reasonable option. The Seahawks also acquired Eagles lineman Stacy Andrews and lost legendary line coach Alex Gibbs to an apparent retirement.

Here are some other notable cuts:

Arizona Cardinals: We talked about Cody Brown and Monty Beisel in yesterday's blog post about early cuts. Leinart wasn't a surprise at all.

Baltimore Ravens: The release of quarterback Troy Smith was a bit of a surprise, though Smith may get a better shot as an athletic option quarterback on another team.

Buffalo Bills: Wayne State running back Joique Bell lost a numbers game at the position, but I have little doubt that he can help another team. Bell is a big back with agility and ability. Former New England second-round pick Chad Jackson was cut after accomplishing very little in Buffalo - that's one Bill Belichick is going to want to forget. Of course, the Bills also cut receiver James Hardy, their own former second-rounder. As we shall see, it was a very bad day for second-rounders overall.

Carolina Panthers: A bit of a surprise to see defensive tackle Tank Tyler cut; Tyler made some plays with the Chiefs a while back. But the Panthers had the best preseason defense by far, and they obviously feel great about the guys they're keeping.

Chicago Bears: Guard Josh Beekman was a fourth-round pick in 2007, and was thought to be part of the Bears' future. And it won't help his rep that he couldn't stick on the team with the worst pass-blocking line in the NFL. WR Juaquin Iglesias, a third-rounder last year, was Sam Bradford's favorite target at Oklahoma, but never managed to stand out at the NFL level.

Cincinnati Bengals: Former Kansas WR Dez Briscoe was extremely productive in college and may have been lost in the shuffle with all the focus in Chad Ochocinco, Terrell Owens, and rookies Jermaine Gresham and Jordan Shipley. Matt Jones was also cut; it would be a big surprise if the former first-round pick's career isn't over.

Denver Broncos: Denver cut former Pats DE Jarvis Green, leaving them with very little in the way of a front line. They also released Brandon Stokley, who was probably made redundant with the ascent of rookie Eric Decker. And in a stunning move, Denver sent 2009 second-round CB Alfonso Smith to the Lions for TE Dan Gronkowski. You'll remember that Smith was the kid that had Denver sending a 2010 first-round pick to Seattle last year for the right to trade up.

Houston Texans: Some bigger names, but no real surprises. RB Chris Henry, CB Jacques Reeves, and K Kris Brown (the Mike Vanderjagt of the new age) were the notable cuts.

Miami Dolphins: The Tuna-led Fins admitted a mistake by releasing quarterback Pat White, who was neither fish nor fowl in Miami's Wildcat offense. White was a speed option guy in school, and he never caught up to the more complex arrays in Miami. And former USC receiver Patrick Turner, taken in the third round just last year, was also jettisoned.

New England Patriots: Reports have the Pats releasing OLB Derrick Burgess, which could hurt both parties. Burgess isn't what he used to be, but the New England pass rush can't afford any more hits.

New Orleans Saints: Ladell Betts was simply outplayed by undrafted rookie Chris Ivory, and Patrick Ramsey was outclassed by Drew Brees Mini-Me Chase Daniel.

New York Jets: No real shockers among the "Hard Knocks" crew, though LB Brashton Satele seemed to impress in camp, and I think you could have received decent odds on rookie running back Joe McKnight not making the team, though he actually did.

Philadelphia Eagles: DB Macho Harris was taken by Philly in the fifth round just last season, but he never found a spot at either cornerback or safety, and rookie Trevard Lindley outplayed him this preseason.

Pittsburgh Steelers: Center Justin Hartwig is a fairly big name; he signed a four-year, $10 million contract with Pittsburgh just last season. But he was overmatched as a run blocker, and rookie Maurkice Pouncey simply beat him out.

San Diego Chargers: The trade for ex-Cowboys receiver Patrick Crayton sealed Josh Reed's fate, and former Bears safety Nathan Vasher, who hasn't played a full season since 2005, couldn't make the cut, either.

St. Louis Rams: Linebacker Bobby Carpenter was traded from Dallas in May, but lost time to Larry Grant and never impressed his new coaching staff.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: The Bucs have already cast RB Derrick Ward aside just one year after signing him to a four-year, $17 million contract. Now, they've added WR Michael Clayton to that big pile of dead cash. Just one year after outbidding the Seahawks for WR Michael Clayton's services and giving him a five-year, $24 million deal, Tampa Bay has cut Clayton as well. It's safe to say that Bucs GM Mark Dominik has had his share of rocky moments early on.

Washington Redskins: The formerly Fast Willie Parker was the big name here.

NFL teams can start adding to their practice squads tomorrow, which is when many of these names will find new roster spots.