NFL Rumors: Keith Brooking's Bank, Drew Brees' Greed and Eli Manning on Peyton

Aside from free agency and the 2012 NFL draft, there's some other interesting news brewing in pro football. Obviously the New Orleans Saints are a popular topic, as is Peyton Manning.

That being said, let's look at some other angles to keep our hunger for football satisfied.

Keith Brooking

According to Alexis Stevens of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Dallas Cowboys linebacker Keith Brooking has been accused of fraud:

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"Upon information and belief, beginning in 2008, K. Brooking realized he would not be able to meet his obligations to his creditors, including Wells Fargo. K. Brooking therefore acted to fraudulently transfer his individual wealth and assets, including, but not limited to, transferring real property located in Georgia, Florida and South Carolina to insiders," the suit states.

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Definitely not the best position to be in when you're a free agent and will be turning 37 years old by midseason. Plus, it would be surprising to see the Cowboys re-sign Brooking, as their linebacker depth is solid, but also needs youth.

Therefore, expect Dallas to draft a linebacker in the mid rounds and/or look to free agency to replace Brooking. He's been contributing less and less, so the need to retain him would be in an even smaller role.

Drew Brees

Back in the first few days of March when all the franchise tag parity was in full beast-mode, we all learned one more thing about Drew Brees and his situation with the Saints.

According to Larry Holder of CBS Sports, Brees was offered a contract before the 2011 season kicked off. Now, it appears that New Orleans may potentially lose everyone but Brees to free agency. In an article by Adam Schein of Fox Sports, Brees's greed is the elephant on the couch that may result in losing key players:

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New Orleans was left with no choice but to give Brees the franchise tag. Sadly, that means they couldn’t tag star guard Carl Nicks. As a result, he likely will get a bigger offer via free agency and leave. New Orleans still has to deal with receiver Marques Colston, receiver Robert Meachem and cornerback Tracy Porter. There is a realistic chance they could all go as free agents.

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The Saints are also not projected to be in the best of salary cap situations, which makes preparing for the 2012 season that much more difficult.

Perhaps we're also looking at this all wrong. The quarterback is considered the important position and if that player has proven to be legit, such as Brees, maybe the Saints are planning on rebuilding around him?

Tom Brady has for most of his career, never been with the same receiving corps for longer than four or five seasons. Sure, he's been with one receiver (Troy Brown from 2000-2007), however, not an entire core of targets for his entire career.

If the Saints are going this route with Brees, they'll need to make sure every offensive lineman they draft or sign is the right guy. Because Brees will make any group of receiving targets better it's the pass protection that must remain, as it has for Brady in New England.

Eli Manning

It was bound to happen sooner or later and with the New York Jets considered to be in the bidding for Peyton Manning, Eli Manning throws in an selling point for the City of New York. In an article by Paul Schwartz of the New York Post, Eli wouldn't mind have his older bro in The Big Apple:

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“Yeah, it’d be fun,” Eli said last month during a radio interview on ESPN Radio, responding lightheartedly to a question about how he’d feel about Peyton playing for the Jets. “We could probably commute to work and we’d come home and eat dinner together, have the kids be playing. … We could share notes on opponents and watch some film together.’’

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Can you imagine both Eli and Peyton in the same city? It would easily be one of the most interesting stories in the history of pro football. Lest we forget, both Shannon and Sterling Sharpe played for the Denver Broncos and Green Bay Packers, respectively, were in the NFL together from 1990-1994.

Oh yea and there's one final tidbit that really takes Peyton-to-the-Jets to a whole nother level. Super Bowl XLVIII is to be played at New Meadowlands Stadium in February of 2014 (so the 2013 season).

A Jets versus Giants, Peyton versus Eli Super Bowl!? In New York!? (technically East Rutherford, NJ, but you get the idea).

Get your tickets now.

John Rozum on Twitter.