Bennett Begs for More

Seahawks DE Michael Bennett, who signed a new four-year, $28.5 million contract in March 2014, is already clamoring for a new deal. He is avoiding voluntary OTAs and considering sitting out a mandatory mini camp in two weeks as he looks to apply pressure on Seattle management to get something done.

Bennett wants to be paid among the top eight players at his position, which would require his average annual salary to jump from $7.125 million to approximately $10 million.

“Not a lot of guys play inside and out,” Bennett told the Seattle Times on Friday, referring to his ability to play both end and tackle. “Not a lot of guys do what I do. So I feel like I should be somewhere near [the top seven or eight].”

Bennett’s end-game seems farfetched, as GM John Schneider has been adamant the organization will not renegotiate contracts with one more than one year remaining on them. Also, Schneider has his hands full trying to hammer out a new deal for franchise quarterback Russell Wilson, who is entering the final season of his rookie contract.

Bennett is a versatile and productive defender who led the team in sacks each of the last two seasons (8.5 in 2013, 7.0 in 2014), but it is not as though his stats dwarf his salary. If the Seahawks cave to his tactics and give him a pay raise, it might make Bruce Irvin go on a shooting spree after the team declined the fifth-year option on Irvin’s contract earlier this offseason. That decision prompted Irvin to announce his plans to join the Falcons as a free agent next offseason, a path Bennett prefers not to follow.

“I see myself being with the Seahawks,” Bennett said. “I think we have something special here with the things that we do in the community, the players that we have and the team and the coaches. I think it’s a great organization.”

McCown Feels Comfortable

For the second year in a row, Josh McCown finds himself with a new team that is promising him a clear path to the starting position. For some odd reason, he believes things will work out better this time than they did last year in Tampa Bay.

Browns head coach Mike Pettine insists McCown is his likely Opening Day starter. Pettine’s repeated pronouncements are not designed to boost McCown’s confidence as much as to take pressure of Johnny Manziel, who is coming off a two-month stint in rehab.

But really, with Manziel unable to control himself off the field (who throws a water bottle, really?), Cleveland has little choice but to get behind McCown, at least for the time being.

“More than anything, for me, I just believe it takes away from any kind of distraction that you can have and the team can just move in one direction, regardless of who that guy is,” McCown said to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “It’s helpful to just say, ‘this is our guy until something happens and he’s not our guy.’”

Therein lies the rub. McCown will be the starter “until something happens.” That “something” could be as simple as playing like he did last season, when McCown had seven more turnovers than touchdowns and a lower passer rating than Geno Smith. And he did that while playing with Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans, two of the top-15 receivers in the NFL; now he will have to do better with a receiving corps whose best player (Josh Gordon) will miss the season while serving his 1,415th suspension.

It’s good McCown is enjoying the support of his head coach, as he should. But as a 13-year veteran he should know by now that such support is short lived. If he thinks holding off Mike Glennon last season was taxing, wait until he goes 17 weeks with Johnny Football waiting in the wings.

Alexander Gives Up the Green

The Panthers needed DE Frank Alexander to step up last season in the absence of Greg Hardy. Unfortunately, what Alexander needed was to get high. His addiction to marijuana resulted in two suspensions — the first for four games, the second for 10 — that wiped out all but one game of his third season in the Big Leagues.

Entering a make-or-break fourth season, Alexander says he has given up the green until his playing days are over.

“I didn’t do it before I went to work. I didn’t do it at work. It was simply like after I got out of practice, I wanted to kind of relax and chill. It kind of healed my body up,” Alexander told Joe Person of the Charlotte Observer. “It wasn’t like a thing I was doing all the time. I didn’t need it to get up and go.”

There is certainly some hypocrisy in the fact the league green-lights countless prescription pain killers but bans the most natural pain killer on the planet. Nonetheless, rules are rules and they apply to everybody (even you, Tom Brady).

Even if Alexander can stay out of trouble, he is unlikely to do much in the way of replacing Hardy. The Kraken had more sacks in the 2013 season finale in Atlanta (four) than Alexander has in 29 career games (3.5). That being said, the Panthers are still better off with a pass rusher who hits blunts than one who hits women.

Lee Returns to Action

Cowboys LB Sean Lee is among the best in the business when healthy. Unfortunately, he isn’t healthy very often. He has missed nearly as many games as he’s appeared in over the last five years (34 of a possible 80 games), including all of last season. But he is healthy again now and back on the field for OTAs.

Lee’s work has been limited thus far as the Cowboys carefully reintroduce the quarterback of their defense. Despite being restricted, Lee’s comeback has energized a unit that overachieved for most of last season.

“Oh, it’s fun (having him back),” said defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli. “He’s a ball of energy and excitement and represents who we are.”

Lee has authored several dynamic plays during his career, including 11 interceptions, 18 pass breakups and 19 tackles for loss. His return restores that drive-stopping ability to the Cowboys defense. It also gives Dallas a player fans can rally behind, unlike the rest of Jerry Jones’ cast of criminals.

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