Speculations fly after Cowboys restructure Romo

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo told 105.3 The Fan in Dallas that he would have restructured his deal in order to keep DeMarco Murray in town, and that he had even implied as much to Murray. The Cowboys however didn’t restructure Romo to free up space for Murray, allowing him to sign with the Philadelphia Eagles instead.

The move may have been a surprise to some, but it made all the sense in the world for Dallas to let Murray walk. Murray has played 16 games just once in his career, and hasn’t been the player he was in 2014 often enough to pay him for that production.

Dallas has decided now to restructure Romo’s contract as they converted most of his 2015 salary into a signing bonus, opening up 12.8 million dollars in new cap space.

The immediate speculation by many is that the Cowboys opened up that 12.8 million dollars in cap space in order to pursue a trade for Minnesota Vikings tailback Adrian Peterson, who wants out of Minnesota and whose 2015 salary is $12.75 million, almost exactly the amount the Cowboys opened up with the Romo restructuring.

While Cowboys fans may be salivating over the opportunity to land Peterson, they shouldn’t expect this move means a deal is imminent. While this cap space could be used to pay Peterson, it could also go a long way in helping to pay Greg Hardy, continue to improve the roster, or even extend some of their own including Dez Bryant.

At the end of the day, it will also depend a lot on what Minnesota wants to do. You’d have to expect the Vikings will take the best deal they can get if they decide to grant Peterson’s trade request, but you’d also have to wonder if they’d be willing to send Peterson where he wants to go if it ends in a bitter divorce.

Roster building continues

While the early days of free agency and splash signings are behind us, it’s often some of the late roster additions that end up being glue guys for championship teams. While there were plenty of April Fool’s Day jokes on Wednesday, there was also a little real news as well.

The Houston Texans, who decided they wouldn’t have enough work for Andre Johnson this season, added some depth at the receiver position by signing veteran wide receiver Nate Washington. While Washington may not see as many snaps as new free agent signee Cecil Shorts, Washington should get plenty of work on the outside in three receiver sets.

The Cowboys re-signed Rolando McClain to a one year contract, and the New Orleans Saints extended Jahri Evans and signed former New York Jets first-round draft pick, cornerback Kyle Wilson. The Chicago Bears also made a couple of nice depth signings, inking former Atlanta Falcons running back Jacquizz Rodgers, and former Arizona Cardinals linebacker Sam Acho to one year deals.

The right and wrong way to celebrate April Fool’s Day

Every year April Fool’s Day includes tons of the obvious bad gags, and reports that your favorite team has traded your favorite player for a conditional draft pick. It’s a frustrating day where you’re stuck between deciding if you’re going to prank someone and absolutely hating everything about the day.

There were a couple of NFL related pranks this year, and while Tom Brady and the Indianapolis Colts did a fantastic job of celebrating the day, Bruce Irvin proved he’s got a lot to learn about how it’s done.

After videos surfaced (doesn’t surfaced just make it sound more nefarious?) of Brady enjoying his vacation by cliff diving and shooting some hoops with Michael Jordan, Brady used his prank to have some fun with those who prefer he spend his offseason in a bubble. Yesterday Brady (or presumably someone who Brady pays to post on Facebook as often as your little sister) posted a picture of himself in a full body cast with the caption, “Jordan’s crossover is killer.”

While Brady’s joke was cute, the Indianapolis Colts really outdid themselves this April 1^st. The Colts employed the help of tight end Dwayne Allen, who starred in a video to promote the team’s new jersey for 2015. In this hoax video, Allen talks about the cutting edge new Colts jersey featuring white everything. Allen does a believable job when explaining the benefit of having white numbers on a white jersey asking, “How can they scout us? They can’t see our numbers, it’s brilliant.”

Then there was Seattle Seahawks linebacker Bruce Irvin, who doesn’t quite get how the day works.

Irvin sent out a series of tweets early Wednesday morning claiming that he wanted to apologize to his fans and the Seahawks organization for getting arrested for a DUI the previous night, “before it hits the media.”

After tweeting that he had made a terrible decision by driving after having a few drinks, and claiming he would do everything to regain trust, and will become a better person after this, Irvin let the tweets sit without another word for 15 minutes.

After the wait, Irvin was back with what he must have thought was the punchline of the century. “How many of yall thought I was serious? Haha April Fools!!”

After receiving a backlash from the tweets, Irvin wanted to make sure his intentions were understood.

“Ok it was a joke didn’t mean to disrespect anybody. Damn relax”

It’s unclear if Irvin truly needs to become a better person, but he certainly needs to get a lot more common sense. Hopefully one of his teammates or coaches who’s actually blessed with some can sit him down and explain the serious issues behind drunken driving.