After the fight, Frye had Beason arrested while the police continued to investigate the case. Along with criminal charges, Beason was also slapped with a $10,000 lawsuit for damages for medical care related to the fight. The criminal charges were quickly dropped when prosecutors could not find enough evidence to press forward with the case. However, the civil suit for damages and medicals bills still remained despite the fact that there were no criminal charges present.

On May 19, 2011 the civil suit for damages was brought before a court of law. A jury of four men and eight women heard the case against Beason and ruled that lack of evidence and conflicting stories proved that Beason didn’t attack Gregory Frye nearly two years ago. They believed that Frye was just looking to bank off of the Carolina Panthers linebacker. The jury, after deliberating for almost two days, also awarded Beason a dollar in damages as a result of a slander suit that Beason had against Frye.

After the ruling, Beason was quoted as saying that this has been a long time coming and that he hopes that it will allow him to move forward and concentrate on football.

Technorati Tags: Carolina Panthers, Gregory Frye, Jon Beason

The plan was simple for Carolina all along. The idea was that they would decide to not retain John Fox, get a new coach, and get Andrew Luck as the future of their franchise. They had a lot of reason to be hopeful. The overall number ones the last two seasons, Matthew Stafford and Sam Bradford, have both been successful in turning their respective franchises around. The hope was that Andrew Luck would do that to a Carolina franchise that has fallen on hard times.

So now Carolina must look toward taking someone else in the draft. While they have the number one pick, they might have to use that pick on something like a quarterback. While any QB other than Andrew Luck who goes number one would be a stretch, the truth is Carolina has to make a tough decision. Do they draft a QB at number one this coming season and move forward. Or, do they end up taking a lineman and wait another year hoping that either Clausen steps it up, or they finish bad enough in the draft that they can compete for Luck next season.

The truth is that Carolina needs to try and win now and they need a quarterback to do that. Gabbert is one of the better quarterbacks in the draft. He could certainly help them get where they want to be, and if he can’t, then it’s better Luck next year.

Peppers was disgruntled and asked to be traded after being franchised by the team, and it appears he will get his wish.  The Patriots need a contingency plan for defensive ends Richard Seymour and Ty Warren who both become free agents after this season.  Peppers will likely be listed as an outside linebacker but will have his hand on the ground quite often in the Patriots hybrid 3-4 system.

Technorati Tags: Julius Peppers

The Carolina Panthers cut ties with cornerback Ken Lucas who spent the last four seasons with the Panthers starting all but one of his games with the team.

The Cleveland Browns continued their purge by releasing 34 year old wide receiver Joe Jurevicius, a Cleveland native who battled through injuries each of the last two seasons.

Technorati Tags: Joe Jurevicius, Ken Lucas