One in, one out

As many people know by now, former Penn fullback and current New York Giant Jim Finn had rotator cuff surgery and is now on injured reserve. There were rumblings that it is serious enough to possibly end his career.

But just as Tiki Barber's lead blocker is out for this year at least, another Penn man is making moves to enter the NFL.

Former Penn guard and co-captain Sean Estrada is working out with the San Francisco 49ers, and has made enough noise to warrant a Q & A with the team Web site a few days ago.

In it, he talks about his time in, as the question notes, the many "Ivy Leagues", and calls going to Penn and getting his degree "one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life."

Estrada got to play in his first Monday Night game this week, in a 17-13 loss to the Broncos. Hard to say how he did (busy watching the Eagles get crushed in Baltimore), because there's no obvious way of telling when he was in the game. The team ran for 144 yards without starter Frank Gore touching the ball, but then again the 49ers didn't score in the second half.

In other news, former Penn standout cornerback Duvol Thompson, who has seen stints with St. Louis and Baltimore since graduating in 2005, no longer seems to be in the NFL. He did play in the Arena Football League last year, notching nine tackles with the Austin Wranglers, but got released in March, five months after he was signed. Now the only Penn grad in the league is wide receiver Rob Milanese of the Philadelphia Soul.

When searching for "players by school" on the league's Web site, the dropdown box, to my shock and delight, actually said "Penn" and not "Pennsylvania". It's taken long enough, but finally a glimpse of marketing success for the Quakers.