The best story I heard all week involved a harrowing escape during the night -- in Philadelphia. Now this is deep deep undercover stuff. It comes from a New Orleans source. It concerns Fred Thomas, the tough little cornerback who made our All-Pro team two years ago. This season he would have been an unrestricted free agent.

"The Eagles brought him down there," our man said. "They wouldn't let him leave. He called us and said, 'They want to give me $6 million. What do I do?' We told him we'd pay him that. Come back. He said he was having trouble getting out of there.

"One of our guys said, 'Tell 'em you've got to go back to the hotel and see your wife -- and then leave. And that's what he did ... snuck out the back way and caught a cab to the airport. And we re-signed him."