trickblue
Not Old School...Old Testament...
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There is a huge rift between Jerry Porter, the Raiders' sometimes spectacular, often annoying and always baffling wide receiver, and Art Shell, the Hall of Fame tackle and coach who couldn't care less if Porter has a nice spread this month in "Dubs Magazine." On Tuesday, Porter spelled it out succinctly. He and Shell aren't on the same page. Porter wants to be traded. "Yes. Absolutely. I've told them that," Porter said on the team's first day of practice at training camp in Napa. Which, coincidentally, did not include Porter during the afternoon workout because of what Shell described as a strained calf muscle. That's right. Day 1.
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After mulling his options for several days, Patriots No. 1 wide receiver Deion Branch decided last night he will not report to camp despite facing a $14,000-per-day fine. ``Deion will not be in camp until he feels he's being treated fairly," said Branch's agent, Jason Chayut. Branch, who has a year remaining on his rookie contract, which was signed in 2002, has yet to comment publicly on his situation. He did not attend the team's mandatory minicamp and now says he won't be at the opening of training camp.
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Chargers LB Donnie Edwards, in camp now with the rookies and quarterbacks (veterans who had offseason surgery report early), is cordial but refuses to discuss the matter of his becoming trade chum. “I'm not even thinking about it,” he says. “I'm not going to talk about it. I just want to let it go and move on. I've talked about it enough. I'm just getting ready for the season, out here with the rookies. My body feels good. I played 10 games last year with a torn meniscus and played through it. I've missed one game in my career." The reason Edwards in on the block is pretty simple. He's scheduled to earn $4 million in this, the final year of his contract. He wants to be paid as much as the best linebackers earn. A.J. Smith thinks Edwards makes enough. Thus far, according to the GM, no offers have arrived for Edwards, although New Orleans is said to be interested. Smith isn't actively shopping him. Edwards is just out there. He may stay out there until the trading deadline, Oct. 17.
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Bill Cowher has elaborated on his cryptic comments regarding his continued tenure as head coach of the Steelers. "I'm not going to look too far down the road," Cowher said Monday night during an appearance on "Savran on SportsBeat," with Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh's Stan Savran. "If I'm asking our players not to do that, then why should I do that personally?" Cowher, 49, will begin his 15th season as the Steelers' coach when training camp opens on Friday at St. Vincent College in Latrobe.
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Suddenly, both sides in the Brodrick Bunkley signing drama seem to be settling in for a long, cold war. Officially, there was little comment on the talks from either side yesterday, as the Eagles' first-round draft choice missed the first day of live, two-a-day full-squad workouts. Unofficially, sources close to each party say they're getting extremely exasperated with each another. They also say that what has been reported recently is true - the holdup is not money, but the term of the deal.
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Vince Young’s agent remains committed to getting the quarterback under contract and into training camp when it opens Friday in Clarksville. Major Adams remains in Nashville and was to speak again by telephone with Tennessee Titans general manager Floyd Reese Tuesday night with another face-to-face meeting scheduled for today. “We haven’t had any breakthroughs yet, but we’re still talking,” Adams told The City Paper. “I’m still confident we can get it done in time.”
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The Saints continue to negotiate with their first-round draft pick, running back Reggie Bush. ... While Mickey Loomis and Bush’s agent, Joel Segal, aren’t talking about their negotiations, owner Tom Benson on Tuesday sounded like he expects the two sides to come to terms soon. “I feel very encouraged about that,” Benson said. “I feel like we’re going to get that done.”
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Now that offensive tackle Adam Meadows wants back into the NFL and has been freed to go wherever he wants, the Dolphins are one team that Meadows' agent, Don Henderson, has contacted. ''I put in a call in to [Dolphins general manager] Randy Mueller earlier [Tuesday],'' Henderson said. ``I haven't heard back from him yet.'' On Tuesday, Meadows, who retired in 2004 while with Carolina, received his formal release from the Panthers, which could have retained his rights. Meadows spent seven seasons -- from 1997 to 2003 -- with the Indianapolis Colts. During the first six of those seasons, he missed five games and started the other 91. After Ryan Diem nudged Meadows to right guard during the 2003 season, Meadows signed with Carolina for 2004. A recurrence of the shoulder injuries that had nagged Meadows for much of his career prompted him to retire two weeks into training camp. During retirement, Meadows went into the home construction business in his native Georgia.
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With no deal imminent, disgruntled wide receiver Ashley Lelie is expected to open the season as a camp holdout. Lelie could not be reached for comment Tuesday. "Does it hurt us?" Broncos GM Ted Sundquist said. "I think we've done a good job of bolstering the receiving corps. ... But when you've got a guy who led the league two years in a row in yards per catch, you'd love to have him out there competing. It makes you a stronger football team. "But I do think the personnel that are there come Friday are more than capable of carrying us where we want to go."
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When the Ravens open training camp Friday, a familiar face will be back in the center of the defense. Ray Lewis is scheduled to practice for the first time since tearing his hamstring nine months ago, coach Brian Billick said yesterday. The former All-Pro linebacker had missed all of the team's spring workouts because he was still recovering from the injury. "I've checked, double-checked and triple-checked and asked as many times as I could: Is there anybody aware of any reason why Ray would not be ready to go?" Billick said. "Ray seems ready to go." Lewis, 31, missed the final 10 games of last season and had surgery to repair his hamstring in December. Last month, Lewis said he hoped to be ready for camp but could not guarantee it. He is expected to participate in all the drills. "I'm not aware of any limitations on Ray," Billick said.
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Is Taylor Jacobs still the odd receiver out? Probably. If the Commanders decide to keep David Patten, that leaves Santana Moss, Brandon Lloyd, Antwaan Randle El and special teams ace Thrash on the active roster. But Jacobs could survive with a solid camp and if Patten attracts trade interest from a team desperate for a second or third receiver.
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The days have dwindled to one, and Tye Hill's name has yet to be affixed to a Rams contract. No need to panic, the team's first-round draft choice assured. "I'm not worried at all," Hill, a cornerback from Clemson, said Tuesday. "It'll get done." ... "We're working hard," said Doug Hendrickson, Hill's California-based agent. "There's nothing close right now, but we're talking. We hope to get something done in time before camp, although we definitely want a fair deal."
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At $1.2 million for the coming season, quarterback Brad Johnson is the lowest paid starting quarterback in the league. Some suggested the quarterback would consider holding out when the Vikings veterans reported to camp at Minnesota State University this weekend. But Johnson is expected to be at camp, trying to prove he is worth more. If Johnson plays as well as he expects, it will be within his rights this season or before the next one to go back to the Vikings to demand a new deal. And under Minnesota's new ownership, the Vikings likely would be smart enough to be willing to redo it.
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The Saints, who are thin at tackle going into their first practice Friday, contacted the agent for former Indianapolis Colts and Carolina Panthers tackle Adam Meadows on Tuesday — one day after the Panthers released him from his contract. Meadows, a 6-foot-5, 290-pounder, played seven seasons with the Colts before becoming an unrestricted free agent in the spring of 2004. He signed a five-year, $15 million contract with the Panthers, but retired two weeks into training camp that year because of lingering pain from shoulder surgeries in 1999 and 2003.
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James "Bus" Cook, Jay Cutler's agent, has been swapping proposals with Broncos general manager Ted Sundquist. The sides have been working loosely off the parameters of the six- year deal Pittsburgh gave quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in 2004. Like Cutler, Roethlisberger was drafted 11th overall. Roethlisberger received $22.26 million in salary and bonuses and another $17.73 million in incentives for a total contract of nearly $40 million. Based on a 5 percent to 10 percent annual increase, Cutler's six-year deal should be around $26 million in salary and bonuses and a total package of roughly $46 million.
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Offensively, coordinator Mike Martz's aggressive downfield passing game is a complete flip from the dink-and-dunk West Coast scheme the Lions have been using. "The offense has a chance to energize our football team, yes," said Rod Marinelli, who hired Martz, the former St. Louis head coach. "It was imperative that he (Martz) become a Lion. I knew how good he was and he's even better than I thought he was. That whole offensive staff is very good. You couldn't be more excited as a head coach or as a Lion. I think we've got a chance."
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The Pats will once again ask a lot of Tedy Bruschi, a team leader who helped resurrect the defense after returning from a stroke. He has otherwise proven remarkably durable, missing just eight games in his first nine seasons, but he turned 33 last month and will be attempting to play his first full season since 2004.
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Ravens officials remain confident that their first-round pick, defensive tackle Haloti Ngata, will be signed before players report to training camp tomorrow. Ngata is the only unsigned Ravens rookie.
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Eagles WR Todd Pinkston, recovering from right Achilles' tendon surgery, experienced swelling in his other Achilles' after Monday's first full-squad workout and did not practice yesterday. "We'll work to get that out, and see how he does here in the next couple of days," Reid said.
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Eagles RB Correll Buckhalter is off the physically-unable-to-perform list, but was held out of the full contact scrimmage yesterday. "I'm just going to play it by ear, see how he's doing, and communicate with him," Reid said. "We'll see how it works out for him." A year ago, Buckhalter was given a heavy workload in the early days of camp and suffered a second torn patella tendon in his right knee.
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Andy Reid's disappointment in Brodrick Bunkley's absence from training camp is growing with each passing day. "I want to really express my disappointment in [agent] Gary Wichard," the Eagles' head coach said yesterday in between training-camp practices at Lehigh University. "That's especially true because the pick right above him in the draft is in camp." Bunkley, a defensive tackle who was the Eagles' first-round pick and the 14th overall, missed his seventh and eighth practices of training camp, and there was no indication that the sides were even close to agreeing on the rookie's first contract.
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Chiefs CB Ty Law on the slow free agent market. “It was somewhat frustrating because you went through a season last year and weren’t 100 percent healthy and still went to the Pro Bowl. I was there asking, ‘What are you guys thinking about?’ But that’s your own ego talking, and I mean that’s the confidence you have inside yourself. It’s a process, and just because you did this or that, there are other guys you have to deal with, too. There are salary caps and different entities that you have to deal with when making a deal. It’s not just about Ty Law playing for any different team. But after what I went though last year, I was prepared to go the distance because I knew I would be playing football somewhere. That made me able to concentrate not on where I was going, but to get back into football shape, getting back into Ty Law mode.”
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The Vikings' aggressive offseason pursuit of free agents resulted in a late addition Tuesday. Veteran free safety Dwight Smith signed a three-year contract two days before rookies and selected veterans were scheduled to report to training camp in Mankato. The deal reportedly is worth $6.5 million. Smith, released by New Orleans last week after only one season with the Saints, will be reunited with Vikings defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin. Smith spent his first four seasons (2001-04) playing for Tampa Bay, where Tomlin was the defensive backs coach.
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