Daunte Mess

So-called NFL insiders like that pasty little elf John Clayton have been saying for days that Daunte Culpepper would be cut by Miami this weekend at the latest. But yesterday ProFootballTalk.com reported that the Fins had no intention of letting Daunte go before July, and that Daunte was seeking the NFLPA’s help in getting him released. The Dolphins then reportedly started whispering about teams tampering with Daunte. This morning, PFT is reporting on an email from Dolphins’ coach Cam Cameron that indicated Daunte has permission to talk to other teams, but the web-site speculated that this had something to do with the Fins’ trying to build their case for tampering.

So now it’s a soap opera. And what makes it all the more entertaining is that Daunte continues acting as his own agent, and persists in using silly tactics like sending out mass emails to the media. When he was a Viking, we just thought Daunte was a little dim, but frankly he seems rather insane at this point. If it weren’t for the intricacies of capology and all the other things that go into when teams time the release of a player, I would say the Dolphins should just show Daunte the door now and get on with life.

Of course, the fun of these stories is stoking the flames. Pro Football Weekly does just this by proposing the Packers acquire Daunte Culpepper, let him sit a year behind Favre to get his knee back in shape, and then make him the starter. But why, when Aaron Rodgers is clearly the next John Elway? In all seriousness, it looks like Jacksonville and Baltimore are Daunte’s two main suitors, with Atlanta as a dark-horse. I still think the Bears should look at him, and frankly, any time any kind of quarterback becomes available, the Lions should at least kick the tires on the guy. The whole Packer thing is far-fetched and silly, and that’s sort of the point I guess, but I still give them a better chance of landing Daunte than the Vikings.