Bob Sanders: A man without a team, for now

I've never begrudged a pro football squeezing every last dollar he can get from NFL teams.

Once I heard John Madden say that when you've been hit once in an NFL game, your life changes forever. Bob Sanders was a hitter who punished himself in order to punish others.

No player changed Iowa football under Kirk Ferentz like safety Sanders. I'm not sure any could, because Sanders was cut from a different cloth than even most of the fiercest NFL players. He put his body on the line to make impact plays, game-changing plays, attitude-changing plays. He gave Iowa's defense something opposing offenses did not want to face.

Sanders got released by the Indianapolis Colts Friday after seven seasons with the team that drafted him in 2004. He played in just 48 of the Colts' 112 regular-season games in that time. He has played in just nine games over the last three seasons. He has had knee and biceps injuries.

Yet, he was the 2007 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, and he was a difference-maker when he returned from injury and helped the Colts to win the Super Bowl the season before.

Sanders is 29. His body must be 92.

He signed a 5-year, $37 million ($20 million guaranteed) contract after the 2007 season. He will probably look for another playing gig somewhere else, but at less money than he's been making. Someone will sign him. NFL teams know if he can play, he'll play hard.

Already, I've read lots of speculation that Team A, Team B and Team C will take looks at Sanders.

If he can give a team anything, he gives it a lot.

Matt Bowen, also a former Hawkeye safety, offers his thoughts on why he thinks Sanders will and should attract interest from other teams in this National Football Post post.

Here's a different take,

from Slate.com.