Rise ‘n Grind: Michael Bennett, Greg Hardy and negotiating via the press

The real winner in free agency this year: Drew Rosenhaus. Super agents aren’t what they used to be, or they don’t seem like it anyway. Maybe our fascinating with the job has finally faded. At any rate, he’s having a very nice spring on behalf of his clients.

Insiders like Adam Schefter are citing him directly these days, not referring to him with the ubiquitous “league sources” moniker as much. That’s kind of a revelation in and of itself. On Tuesday, we got to peer behind the curtain a little bit as Rosenhaus did a little maneuvering on behalf of his clients.

Greg Hardy was in Dallas, negotiating a deal with the Cowboys. A few minutes after Schefter reported that, another report came along indicating that Hardy had a visit planned with Seattle. Not long after that, it was revealed that Seattle did not have a visit planned with Hardy.

Then, Tuesday afternoon, a mysterious report surfaced saying that Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett, another Rosenhaus client, wanted a new contract (he just signed one last year) or a trade to Atlanta. Nope. That wasn’t entirely accurate either. Bennett had not asked for a trade, according to a subsequent report, and we thoroughly debunked the whole thing.

But it made for a fantastic day of public negotiating for a pair of Rosenhaus’ clients, which was a nice change from the dumpster fire that engulfed the NFL media world Tuesday morning in the wake of Chris Borland’s retirement.

People saying dumb things - Speaking of that dumpster fire, we ranked the dumbest things pundits said about Chris Borland. Remember, just because you can doesn’t mean you should tweet it.

Kevin White is a stud - Stephen White (no relation) broke down the West Virginia receiver who might be the first wideout off the board on April 30.

Sneaky moves - It’s those little free agents that usually end up paying big dividends.

Clay who? - Charles Clay, the most important tight end in the NFL ... in March, finally got signed to an offer sheet by the Bills. Miami has five days to match.

Don’t give up the dream - Eagles fans concocted another scenario for making Marcus Mariota their quarterback.

Don’t give up the dream, part 2 - The Eagles might sign Tim Tebow after all, but it hinges on trading Matt Barkley.

Browns wanted Bradford - It was revealed yesterday that the Browns offered the 19th overall pick in the draft for Sam Bradford. I would have agreed to it.

Good news - Devon Still’s daughter, Leah, appears to be cancer-free.

“Bad marriage” - Colts fans are trying to reconcile their time together with Trent Richardson.