Raheem Brock, entertainer
With owners and several GM’s (including Seattle’s John Schneider) meeting in Chicago today, hope continues to grow that a deal can be struck to end the NFL’s lockout. It’s been a long two months since the draft, with hardly any legitimate ‘news’ to report or discuss apart from litigation battles and endless speculation on whether a new CBA is close/miles away/pending/impossible.
Raheem Brock, who is due to be a free agent whenever the lockout does end, has tried to make life a little bit more interesting over the last week or so.
First came news of an incident involving an unpaid $27 bar bill which led to Brock being arrested by police. TMZ, who broke the news, have today published the defensive end’s side of the story:
The drama began after Raheem, his cousin and a female friend went to the Copacabana restaurant to order some food Thursday night. Brock says after the group placed the order, Brock’s female friend decided she would rather get a cheesesteak from a place across the street … so she and Brock walked over while Raheem’s cousin waited at Copacabana. But when they returned to the Cope … the waitress wouldn’t let them bring the cheesesteak inside.
Brock says his group canceled their food order and left … thinking everything was cool — until the cops arrived to the scene and told Brock he’d been accused of running out on the bill. Brock says he offered to pay $40 for the $27 bill … but the manager refused to accept payment. Raheem was then arrested on suspicion of theft of services and resisting arrest.
Brock tells TMZ, “While I was in ‘cuffs, I explained to the manager that I own restaurants … and if there’s a policy about paying for food that hasn’t come out … then it should have been explained to us before we left.”
I’m glad we cleared that up. Meanwhile the 33-year-old, who had a career-year for the Seahawks in 2010 with nine regular season sacks, has also tried his hand at reporting. He had this juicy piece of gossip for followers of his Twitter account:
Plaxico and Randy moss might end up in Seattle….! U heard it here first!
And to cap a busy week he also had time to dispute a report made by ESPN’s Joh Clayton. Having previously stated he expected to return to Seattle next season, he was more than a little miffed to hear Clayton’s contrasting opinion based on the player’s age.
John Clayton said what about me???
Idk…maybe he knows somethin I don’t
Of course the outspoken sack-artist made headlines towards the end of last season, tweeting that Jay Cutler was a ‘sissy’ during Chicago’s disappointing exit from the playoffs against rivals Green Bay.
If nothing else Raheem Brock is making life interesting during a particularly quiet period for NFL news. On a serious note, the Seahawks shouldn’t sniff at a player who was effective at times. Defensive line is also an area of the team which is looking increasingly thin. Clayton’s report suggests ‘age’ will the mitigating factor if Brock isn’t re-signed. In that case, should we presume Lawyer Milloy and Matt Hasselbeck won’t return either and that Robert Gallery won’t be a target during free agency? I’d wager Brock will return, where he’ll go back to doing his talking on the field and not on Twitter.
So Rob, you don’t think Seattle should re-sign Brock?
I lean towards the opposite persuasion, but that’s based on a few assumptions:
#1: I don’t think Brock will cost too much. Teams will be wary of his production in a system that also had teammate Chris Clemons having a career year out of nowhere, not to mention age bias which reared its ugly head at Brock last year despite still playing well for years before. My guess is he’d sign for surprisingly little, especially in what figures to be a VERY short free agency period which puts a lot of pressure on players to accept offers.
#2: Brock didn’t show obvious signs of slowing down last year. I don’t say that because of the sack totals- he passed the eyeball test. He’s still very good in coverage by DE standards, closes well in tackles and is solid in run support. I expect him to decline next year, sure, but a Raheem Brock in decline would probably still put him well ahead of guys like Kentwan Balmer; just like how a very old Matt Hasselbeck is still much better than Charlie Whitehurst or JP Losman.
#3: Chris Clemons had a very ugly injury history before coming here and I consider Seattle amazingly lucky that they got full season out of him in 2010. If Clemons goes down next year, the team will be banking on guys like Dexter Davis to fill the void, and that’s a gamble, whereas Brock is a known commodity. Seattle, at the moment, is probably the favorite to win the division, ESPECIALLY if they close the deal for Carson Palmer, so known commodities are worth more for a team that feels its in contention.
In the last paragraph I wrote:
“I’d wager Brock will return, where he’ll go back to doing his talking on the field and not on Twitter.”
Not sure why you thought I didn’t think he’d return? It’s also a move I’d be supportive of, as I discussed in the piece.