They will treat him to something special on Father’s Day. Maybe it will be a new set of golf clubs or dinner at his favorite steakhouse. But the real Father’s Day present from eight NFL rookies will be unwrapped in September on Kickoff Weekend. At that time, if all goes well, they will give dad a gift 173 sons have presented before — following in his footsteps as an NFL player.
For one rookie, he will follow the NFL path of not only his father, but also his grandfather. Linebacker Clay Matthews, a first-round Draft pick of the Green Bay Packers this year …read more

It’s that time of year again. Green Bay Packers three-time Pro Bowl receiver Donald Driver wants a new contract. So, to apparently make some kind of statement, he’s not taking part in the team’s “voluntary” OTAs. Donald is scheduled to make $3.9 million this season and $4 million in 2010, pretty fair I think, especially considering he caught 74 passes for 1,012 yards and five touchdowns last season—his lowest totals in five years.
I’m not sure what kind of new deal D2 is looking for, but at 34-years-old, he’s obviously trying to cash in one final time before he’s considered over-the-hill. …read more

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast
Nine months ago I alerted you to a new Travel Channel show featuring Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Dhani Jones. Well, the time has come for that show to premiere. Dhani Tackles the Globe will make its debut tonight at 9 p.m. ET. The first episode is Muay Thai in Thailand. Muay Thai, or Thai boxing, is the cultural martial art of Thailand. Its origin dates back to the 1300s. Muay Thai was developed as a form of close combat that used the entire body as a weapon. It’ll be an interesting introduction to what should be …read more

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast
Congratulations to Jim Millheim from Cape Coral, Florida. He was the winner of the No Fear “Earn Some Cred” Prize Pack. I fired up the random number generator at 12:01 this morning and selected Jim’s comment. Thanks to everyone who participated. There were 276 entrants in the contest.

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast
Now that Terrell Owens has been released by the Dallas Cowboys, he’s free to play for any team in the National Football League that wants him. But does any team want him? You can be sure there are at least a few. And in a text message today, his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, confirmed that interest:
“There are several teams that are interested in signing Terrell. I have been in negotiations with these teams. I will not identify these teams at this time. Terrell and I expect to have a deal in place by the end of …read more

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast
Since Super Bowl XLIII ended, most of the National Football League discussion has been surrounding franchise tags, contract extensions and pink slips. Combined, they lead to the always intriguing and entertaining NFL free agency signing period, which begins a week from today for the 2009 season. Players like Tennessee Titans defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth are sure to test the market and cash-in — whether in Tennessee or elsewhere. Here are some of the more popular questions and answers regarding free agency. The questions are in bold, the answers are not. You know how it goes: …read more

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast
The AFC and NFC teams had their first practices today for Sunday’s annual Pro Bowl. This is the 30th straight time the game will be played in Honolulu, but the Pro Bowl will not return to Hawaii in 2010. Next year the game moves to the weekend before the Super Bowl in Miami. Here’s what NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell had to say about it at his Super Bowl XLIII presser last week:
“The entire premise of shifting the Pro Bowl was to make our event bigger and better than it is right now. We’ve had a …read more

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco was presented with the 2008 Diet Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year award today. Joe was one of five finalists for the honor — running back Matt Forte (Bears), running back Chris Johnson (Titans), quarterback Matt Ryan (Falcons) and running back Steve Slaton (Texans).
You might recall that Matt Ryan won the AP’s Offensive Rookie of the Year Award. So here’s how this thing works. The five finalists were selected because of their outstanding performances throughout the 2008 NFL season. Each week, five nominees were chosen for the Diet Pepsi NFL …read more

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast
Here’s an NFL rarity. Green Bay Packers receiver Greg Jennings won’t discuss a potential new contract until after the season is over. He doesn’t want to be a distraction to his teammates. Not even after quarterback Aaron Rodgers got his new deal this afternoon. Greg’s deal is not set to expire until after the 2009 season, but Monday is the deadline for NFL teams to apply any increase in a player’s base salary to the 2008 salary cap. This allows teams to use up any available room they have now. Well, the Packers have (ok, …read more

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast
The Green Bay Packers locked up quarterback Aaron Rodgers through the 2014 season today. Executive Vice President, General Manager and Director of Football Operations (wow, that’s a long title) Ted Thompson made the announcement this afternoon:
“As we talked about in the past, we try to be proactive in our discussions with our current players and we felt like this was an appropriate time to try to come to an agreement with Aaron. We feel like this is good for the organization and the players, and we will continue this approach as we move forward.”
Terms of …read more