NFL CONFIDENTIAL: Bills find no takers for Henry
By VITO STELLINO, The Times-Union
When Buffalo Bills president Tom Donahoe was asked about the status of running back Travis Henry last week, he responded, "He's available.''
He then jokingly added, "Are you interested?''
Donahoe can't figure out why he's having so much trouble trading Henry, who became expendable when he lost the starting running back job to Willis McGahee last year.
When Henry asked to be traded at the end of last year, Donahoe asked for a second-round pick for him.
After finding no takers, he lowered his demand to a third-round pick.
"We're not going to budge. We feel we've already lessened the asking price. We don't think we could go below that. We think we're giving away for a three,'' Donahoe said. "We think that a three is pretty fair for a starting caliber running back, somebody who's been to the Pro Bowl. It's been perplexing to us why we haven't been able to get it done.''
Henry is only 26, and he has rushed for more than 1,300 yards twice -- although he only gained 326 yards last year when McGahee became the featured back.
"It's frustrating for us and frustrating for Travis,'' Donahoe said. "We understand how he feels. Wherever he ends up, he'll add tremendous toughness. He's played with broken ribs and a hairline fracture in his leg. He lines up and plays. It's not a case where we want to trade Travis. Selfishly, I would love to have him on our team. I really respect him. I haven't been around too many football players tougher than him.''
One problem: Henry is in the final year of his contract, so unless a team can reach an agreement on a long-term deal, a team trading for Henry would risk losing him as a free agent after one year.
Donahue said he gave some teams, including the Jaguars, the right to negotiate with Henry's agent, Hadley Engelhard, but hasn't heard back.
Paul Vance, who negotiates for the Jaguars, said he had preliminary conversations with Engelhard a few months ago, but said they aren't currently involved in any talks.
Because the offseason programs are over and the start of training camp is almost a month away, the Henry talks aren't likely to heat up for several weeks.
Henry has skipped the Bills' offseason program and might be a no-show for training camp if he's not dealt.
If the Bills don't get a third-round pick, Henry will have to play for the Bills if he wants to play this year.
He quit his day job
More than a year ago, K.C. Joyner of Altamonte Springs told his wife, Heather, that he wanted to quit his $50,000-a-year telecom job to pursue his dream of becoming the Bill James of football. James is the writer whose in-depth analysis of baseball statistics changed the way the game is perceived.
Since the Joyners had a mortgage, two car payments and a child (they now have a second one), the move meant they'd have to cut back and live on savings and her job at Target.
Still, his wife said he should pursue his dream.
"I knew I wanted to write this book since I was 14 years old,'' he said. "If I didn't do it now, I'd probably never do it.''
There were times in the last year when he doubted he had made the right decision, often quoting the Bear Bryant line about having "more guts than sense.''
He recorded almost every NFL game last year with 12 VCRs (he missed some of the Week 3 games because of a power failure caused by Hurricane Jeanne and he taped only 11 Jaguars games because of television blackouts).
Called Scientific Football 2005, the book includes 140,000 words, 467 pages and 150 pages worth of charts. He doesn't have a publisher, so he printed it on his computer in 9-point type to keep it under 500 pages.
Joyner recently sent it to sports editors around the country as well as various media members and promoted it on his Web site -- thefootballscientist.com.
He estimated he needed to sell 500 copies at $49.95 each to be able to afford to do it again this year.
This story figures to have a happy ending. After the book was given a rave review by Paul Zimmerman on SI.com, Joyner got 200 orders at a downtime for the NFL. He should be able to reach his goal of 500 once training camps start.
The book, which mostly analyzes the NFL passing game, is not for everyone. Only serious fans would be interested, but it's a treasure trove of information. Some teams and Ivy League professors have ordered the book. So has NFL Films.
Among his nuggets, he noted that 23 of Peyton Manning's 49 touchdown passes were against defenders considered subpar. He pointed out that cornerback Champ Bailey of Denver made the Pro Bowl, but was one of the worst in the league at giving up long passes. He wrote that quarterback Jeff Garcia made good decisions in Cleveland despite the team's woeful record and that Buffalo wide receiver Lee Evans has the potential to be a big star.
His goal is to give fans information they might not know, though his conclusions on the Jaguars' passing game followed conventional wisdom.
Though he didn't see every Jaguars game, he said quarterback Byron Leftwich was better than his receivers. He said Jimmy Smith was a good No. 1 receiver, but the rest were No. 3 types. "If they get a No. 2 receiver, everything will fall in place,'' he said.
Joyner said Leftwich ranked best in the league at making decisions, but must improve his accuracy. He was 29th in that department.
"Accuracy is the most underrated aspect of a quarterback's performance,'' he said.
Return of the king
Tim Ciciora, a retired Navy man who now works at the Jacksonville zoo, is going to become a familiar face in Jacksonville. He's dressed as Elvis in the ad blitz the Jaguars will start Tuesday.
"I guarantee you Elvis will be a star this fall,'' said team vice president Tim Connolly.
Explaining why he dresses as Elvis at Jaguar games, Ciciora said: "Halloween is my Christmas. I've got a closet full of costumes. Elvis is always a crowd favorite. It's cheaper than therapy.''
Now the question is whether the ad campaign, featuring other local season ticket holders, will convince casual fans to buy tickets.
The Jaguars' surprising revelation that they lost money in 2002 and 2004 puts more emphasis on the importance of selling tickets.
They're covering up seats this season but are still struggling to sell out. The team eliminated the 12-month payment plan because more than 1,500 fans took advantage of it and stopped paying after the season ended. The Jaguars still had to pay the visiting team 34 percent of the value of those tickets even though they didn't get the money for them.
Cope with honors
Myron Cope spent 35 years as the color broadcaster for the Steelers and has always been beloved in Pittsburgh.
But even Cope, 76, seemed stunned at the outpouring of affection when he announced a week ago he was stepping down for health reasons.
"I'm totally amazed,'' Cope said. "I've never expected anything like this.''
The man who invented the Terrible Towel and popularized the term the "Immaculate Reception'' -- a fan suggested it to him -- said, "I've gotten calls and letters from all over the country. It's been wonderful.''
In addition to being given keys to the city, Cope will be honored at the Pro Football Hall of Fame this summer and will be feted at a Steeler Monday night game on Halloween night against Baltimore. He said he was told that tickets to that game are already being offered on eBay for more than $300.
Cope hasn't changed through the years. He's politically incorrect and hasn't stopped smoking or having his favorite "toddies'' despite health problems.
When given keys to the city, the widower went off on a riff about seeing an "outstanding blonde'' jogging while he listened in his car stereo to the George Shearing rendition of the jazz song, What is this Thing Called Love.
"I lit up a cigarette in defiance of the health Nazis,'' he said.
Cope will continue to stay busy in his "retirement'' and plans to write a book this fall.
Cope was an outstanding writer before he turned to broadcasting, and his profile on Howard Cosell for Sports Illustrated is considered a classic.
Quotable
"I think we're going to be the team to beat. No one is giving us a chance, and that's the way I like it,'' Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher to Chicago reporters on his upbeat attitude despite the team's 5-11 record last year.
This story includes information from interviews, other beat writers, Web sites and news service reports.
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