$.01-- The CBA negotiations dominated the NFL talk this week. An early-week meeting went nowhere, and Commissioner Roger Goodell canceled all further negotiating. That has fostered a mood of doom and gloom from fans, talk shows, and agents. Don?t believe the hype. All this is just a case of two unfamiliar opponents feeling one another out, akin to the first quarter of most Super Bowls. Goodell and NFLPA President DeMaurice Smith have never negotiated anything together before, and neither side knows precisely how the other operates in negotiations. The primary dispute that led to the cancellations this week focused on the players proposing a 50/50 split on all revenue. The owners scoffed at this, as they should. Ownership continues to maintain that in order to even begin real negotiations the NFLPA must agree to allow the owners to take an additional $1B (that?s billion with a capital B) off the top before reaching the money that gets shared between the owners and the players. That figure is currently a $1B exemption; the owners essentially want to double this figure in order to better manage their increasing debt levels, which primarily stem from overextending themselves on stadium deals, rising insurance and interest rates, and buying the teams with heavily leveraged packages that burst with the financial markets. The players counter that they need to see legit evidence that this additional $1B is necessary. In short, they don?t trust the owners when they say they are losing money and need a bigger slice of the pie to stay financially viable. This is where Goodell and Smith must figure out how to work together to get a deal hammered out. Without the trust that each side is working in good faith, a deal is impossible. Right now they?re dancing around, waiting to see who blinks first. Here?s a little hint for D. Smith: it?s a whole lot easier to keep 32 people together and quiet than 785. There is a time to hold firm and a time to offer an olive branch, and it?s better to extend that good faith before some of the constituents you represent burn down the tree and all its branches. I remain very optimistic and confident a deal will be done before any games are threatened. That March 4th drop-dead date is highly unlikely, but it wouldn?t surprise me at all if a deal was done before the NFL Draft in late April. $.02-- Tennessee continues to make radical changes, seemingly on the blink of an eye. It?s a startling turn of events for an organization that has long championed stability. Long-time coach Jeff Fisher, who made the move with the team from Houston all those years ago, has been replaced by former offensive line coach Mike Munchak. The Hall of Famer has never been with another team, so in that sense the continuity factor is still strong. The big headline came when Munchak decided to fire Offensive Coordinator Mike Heimerdinger. Normally a new coach deciding to go with his own people instead of holdovers is accepted practice, but Heimerdinger?s circumstance is a little different. He is a cancer patient. That changed the overwhelming reaction from ?Munchak wanted to make a change? to ?I cannot believe the Titans fired a guy fighting cancer?. I support Munchak quite strongly on this one. A new coach must be able to trust in his top lieutenants and depend on them being there every minute to help him. Sadly, Heimerdinger?s health issues make that questionable at best. There is no guarantee that he could last a full season. It put Munchak and the team in a lousy situation, but they made the correct decision for both the short and long term. $.03-- The Carson Palmer situation in Cincinnati is growing more and more acrimonious. Or at least that?s the perception that one of the sides would have you believe. It came out this week that Palmer is selling his pricey Indian Hills home in suburban Cincinnati, which was immediately read as ?he?s leaving us for sure? by some overzealous Palmer critics within the Bengals media camp and the greater city as a whole. Palmer?s future with the Bengals remains uncertain, but the quarterback selling his house in suburban Cincinnati shouldn?t be seen as a portent of imminent departure. It?s Cincinnati in the middle of winter after all, not exactly the most attractive place to live for a born-and-bred SoCal guy. I?ll let my native Clevelander bias shine through for a minute: there aren?t many places in the country that are less attractive to live in than Cincinnati as far as metro areas go. That?s even truer in the middle of a bitterly cold winter. The Bengals are the only game in town between October and March, which makes the spotlight on the franchise QB almost blindingly bright. Add in the fact that the Bengals just finished a disastrous season where Palmer struggled with the demands of dueling diva wideouts, and you can see why he wants to leave town. I still maintain that Palmer is playing hardball in his ongoing efforts to expunge the team of Chad #85 (he wants to change his name again, so I don?t know what the hell to call him anymore). It was not a coincidence that Palmer?s play significantly improved when #85 got hurt, and Palmer is tired of the chronic neediness. It?s like being the parent of a toddler that refuses to try potty training; at some point you have just had enough with cleaning up poopy diapers and you have to force the issue. Palmer already succeeded in getting offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski axed, and I suspect he?ll win the battle of wills here as well. I?ve talked to a couple of Bengals teammates and they do absolutely believe he?s serious in following through on his retirement threat if he has to play with #85 again. Immediately the rumor mongers spewed out some trade scenarios involving Palmer. My favorite involves the Bengals trading Palmer to Seattle for the #25 pick in the draft, and then packaging that pick and the #4 overall pick to Philadelphia for Kevin Kolb. That actually sounds plausible to me, with Seahawks coach Pete Carroll trying to reassemble his USC dynasty in the Pacific Northwest and the Eagles apparently reluctant to keep paying Kolb to play only the three games a season that Mike Vick is injured when they also have younger, cheaper Mike Kafka, a guy they genuinely like. Stay tuned. $.04-- Former Auburn QB Cam Newton held a workout for several media members in San Diego on Thursday to show off his progress. Everyone in attendance came away stunned at how awesome Newton looked. Trent Dilfer needed a bib to catch all the drool coming from his mouth in interviews, and Newton?s unofficial mentor Warren Moon waxed positively poetic in interviews as well. I watched the video of the workout, and here?s what I saw: -- He?s a huge individual but he has the compact release and throwing technique of a small QB (that?s a good thing). Most tall QBs need a wide base to step and throw, and they generally have a longer windup and follow-thru. Newton throws a lot like Tony Romo, a quick release and motion with a short base that doesn?t sacrifice arm strength. I?d like to see him have more consistency with his foot placement and in bending his front knee, but Rome wasn?t built in a day. -- He?s eminently coachable. After working for just two weeks with QB guru George Whitfield, Newton has shortened his release but also noticeably improved on his eyes. No player I?ve ever seen improved more over the course of one season than Newton did last year, but even in his final few games at Auburn Newton had a tendency to drop his eyes. It?s hard to tell from a scripted workout, but I saw no evidence of that bad habit in this workout. -- He ?gets it?. The post-workout interview showed a charismatic, humble guy that isn?t afraid of success or failure. He knows he has to improve and did a good job convincing everyone he will die trying. I?ve talked to his coaches at Blinn Junior College here in Texas, and they have consistently said that from the beginning. Newton was already atop my QB Big Board, as much because I?m not real high on any of his competition as for his impossibly high ceiling. Now I?m starting to think he?s going to approach that ceiling a lot quicker than expected, and to me he unquestionably has the most potential of any player in this draft. That was once true of JaMarcus Russell, too, which is why I would still proceed with extreme caution. I?m trying not to get too excited about a carefully choreographed workout, but it?s hard to not be incredibly impressed from it. $.05--Some random draft thoughts: -- The more I watch Ryan Mallett, the more I think some team is going to get sucked in before the first round is half over. When given time, he?s as good at firing the ball into tight windows as any QB around, and he?s got the physical attributes coaches dream about for their QB. But he handles even token defensive pressure so poorly, and one of the most critical characteristics that separate Peyton Manning and Drew Brees from Brady Quinn and David Carr is the ability to manage pressure. It?s the difference between a middle reliever and a closer in baseball, and middle relievers don?t win playoff games. Closers do, and I don?t see Mallett ever being able to make that leap. -- After liking what I saw during the NFLPA game week from Mallett?s Arkansas teammate, Ray Dominguez, I spent more time focusing on his body of work. Dominguez is a powerful drive blocker that generally has good enough feet to handle the positional responsibility of playing guard in the NFL. The issue is that he?s terribly inconsistent; one drive his punch is devastating and he controls his man with strong technique and fundamentals, the next drive his hands are late and high, and he doesn?t keep his balance well. He?s not athletic enough to play with inconsistent technique, and he?s not going to fit in a pass-heavy offense with wider splits. But with good coaching and some dedication on his part, he can make a good 6th lineman with the ability to capably fill in at either guard spot or right tackle. That?s 5th-6th round territory. -- Virginia Tech RB Ryan Williams is one player who will be made or broken by his trip to the Combine later this month. He was phenomenal in 2009 but he missed half of 2010 with a hamstring injury and was considerably less effective upon his return. The burst and leg drive that made him special was all but gone. If he cannot summon those attributes back during his Combine visit, teams are going to have a hard time justifying a high pick on a back with his limited experience and an injury problem. But if his hamstring and recovery checks out fine, in my opinion he is a first round talent that is a better, more natural runner than the similar-styled Ryan Mathews, who was San Diego?s first round pick a year ago. -- LSU corner Patrick Peterson is going to be a top-10 pick, probably a top-5 pick, but one high-ranking NFL talent evaluator isn?t sold. When we talked in San Antonio, he offered concern that expectations for Peterson are going to be too lofty. While he agreed with the widespread notion that an athlete of his size with his instincts has the potential for greatness, he sees a lot of room for improvement that will be tested and/or exploited early and often. File that one away for if/when Peterson isn?t Revis Island II as a rookie. -- The same talent evaluator offered a similar opinion on Missouri DE Aldon Smith. To sum up his thoughts: we?re asking a very young, green player to change positions while coming off a bad leg injury. Beware lofty expectations early. In fact, he opined that he would much rather be the guy that plucks Smith off the discard pile in 3-4 years and gets a more physically and mentally mature, hungrier player, a la Jason Babin with the Titans last season, than the guy known for drafting the next Vernon Gholston.