According to a report on ESPN.com, Greg Jennings is close to signing an extension that will keep him on the Green Bay Packers until the 2013 NFL season.

Jennings’ new contract will reportedly pay him $27 million — with $16 million of that money being guaranteed. He also has incentives in the contract that could bump it up another $3 million. Prior to this extension, Jennings was due to make less than $600K.

In the last two season, Jennings has been extremely impressive. In 2007, he had 920 yards with 12 touchdowns. In 2008, he finished the season with 1,292 yards and nine touchdowns. The 25-year-old out of Western Michigan has established himself as one of the best wideouts in the NFL.

After missing games in each of his first two seasons, Jennings was able to play all 16 games last season. That note likely allowed the Packers to confidently give him a contract with the thinking that he’ll be the team’s number one wide receiver for the foreseeable future.

Greg Jennings - Green Bay Packers (Image: Zuma Press)

Linebacker has usually been a position of strength for the New England Patriots over the last few years. However, the Patriots looked to be thin at linebacker with training camp around the corner. On Wednesday, New England addressed their linebacking needs by signing free agent Paris Lenon.

Lenon fits the mold of what the Patriots look for in a linebacker. He’s good against the run, looks to make plays and has a healthy amount of veteran savvy. The 31-year-old out of Richmond has seven years of NFL experience. The last three years were with the Detroit Lions, while his previous four seasons were spent with the Green Bay Packers.

In the last two years, Lenon has produced his best stats. His 121 tackles last year led the Lions and he also totaled two forced fumbles and 1.5 sacks. In 2007, he had 118 tackles.

In his seven years, Lenon has never missed a game. That durability should be a good fit for the Patriots because the last few years they have had a lot of injuries in the linebacking corps.

Paris Lenon - New England Patriots Linebacker (Image: Zuma Press)

Although Bubba Franks didn’t have a very productive year in his first season with the New York Jets, the Jets apparently saw enough to give him another chance. On Tuesday, the two sides agreed to a one-year contract that will have the bulky tight end in New York for the 2009 football campaign.

Last year, Franks played in eight games and had just six receptions for 47 yards and no touchdowns. All six of his receptions came in the first four weeks of the season. By the end of the 2008 campaign, rookie Dustin Keller was starting at tight end for the Jets.

Prior to signing with the Jets last year, Franks played eight season with the Green Bay Packers. A first round pick in the 2000 NFL Draft, his best season was in 2002 when he had seven receiving touchdowns to go along with 54 catches and 442 yards. In his career, Franks has 262 receptions for, 2,347 yards and 32 touchdowns.

In the 2009 season, Franks is once again expected to backup Keller.

Bubba Franks (Image: Flickr)

As a Packer fan, I foolishly never thought I’d be commenting on Brett Favre again. It seems to me that people either love him or hate him. I fall right down the middle and actually look at him as a player. Not a god. Not a devil.

But now that there are the “rumors” that he could once again come out of retirement, here I am once again talking about him. You have to admit one thing, the guy is never boring. Not in the way he plays and not in the hype that follows him.

In case you haven’t heard, Favre asked for a release from the Jets way back in February when he retired. It was finally granted late Tuesday night after the Jets had finally secured a quarterback. The Jets couldn’t have kept Favre because they couldn’t afford him under the salary cap this year. A release was the only option.

Now the “rumor” is that he could go to Minnesota, something he wanted to do last year when the Packers decided to play hard ball. But who is more stubborn? Packers GM Ted Thompson or Favre? Rumors have swirled that the two have butted heads from the beginning, with Thompson wanting Favre gone so he could bring his new favorite Aaron Rodgers on the scene. Last year, Thompson finally made that happen. To make darn good and sure that Favre couldn’t play against Green Bay (and perhaps because Thompson wanted to stick it to Favre a bit more) he put a clause into his trade agreement that if the Jets traded Favre to any NFC North team, they would give Green Bay three first round draft picks.

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It really isn’t a dramatic jump, considering the fact that Greg Paulus was a standout quarterback on his high school football team. While at Christian Brothers Academy, Paulus started for three seasons — passing for over 8,000 yds., breaking five state records and losing only three games throughout his career.

These stats were so impressive that Paulus was once considered the best quarterback in his age group, receiving 53 scholarship offers to play football at the Division I level in college.

Greg Paulus may be throwing a football instead of a basketball once again.

But Paulus’ first love had always been basketball. And when he was given the opportunity to play for one of the most storied and respected programs in college basketball history, he took it. Who can blame him? Some kids grow up dreaming of playing at Duke under the helm of Coach K. Sure, Paulus has gotten teased more than most over his four-year career. But I don’t think his football talent was wasted.

Apparently, the Green Bay Packers were intrigued enough to give Paulus a workout.

We all know that Paulus isn’t going to the NBA. But it looks as though the NFL could be a reasonable back-up plan.

Photo provided by Newscom

Greg Paulus is known for his work on the basketball court. Recently, the Green Bay Packers wanted to see if the former Duke point guard could make a good NFL quarterback. With the 2009 NFL Draft less than two weeks away, the Packers are apparently checking everywhere to make sure there isn’t a quality prospect hiding where other teams aren’t looking.

Will Greg Paulus find that the NFL is easier than college basketball? (Flickr)

It’d be an extreme longshot for Paulus to be drafted by the NFL, but he does have a lot of football experience. Before deciding to go to Duke to play basketball, Paulus was a highly-recruited quarterback. According to reports, Paulus was offered football scholorships from schools including Miami and Notre Dame.

At Duke, Paulus was mostly a disappointment. He was regarded as a great teammate but he didn’t produce at a very high level. In his senior season, he lost his starting job and averaged only 4.9 points per game. His best season came his sophomore year when he averaged 11.8 points per game.

The news of Paulus’ Packers workout was scooped by ProFootballTalk.com and the Wisconsin State Journal.

On the first Monday Night Football game of the 2008 season, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson ran over Green Bay Packers defensive back Al Harris. Peterson took an outside run towards the sideline before lowering his shoulder, which put Harris on his backside.

The hit left all of the announcers giggling and praising the great run. Here’s a look at the video:

It was the story that never seemed to end and everyone was talking about. That story had one main character; Brett Favre. Well, tonight, Favre’s story opens another chapter. Tonight, Favre and Jets will hit the field at the Meadowlands for a preseason contest, Favre’s first with his new team.

There are two things Jets fans want to see from Favre; no turnovers and not getting hurt.

 
(Brett Favre: Spokesman for Snappers)

In watching the hall of fame game tonight, I got to watch football return. How happy was I? Well, not so much. See it’s not the games fault. I don’t blame the Indianapolis Colts or the Washington Redskins. They just wanted to play ball. It’s not their fault that Brett Favre is all anyone wants to talk about.

They showed his private jet landing and all the fans. They tried to get everyone’s opinion on him. They showed his wife in his suite during Green Bay’s scrimage and said that hey, he might be in that stadium somewhere. Brett Favre! Brett Favre! Brett Favre! Do they not know how annoying this is? But this is what they want. No matter if I like that he’s talked about every hour on the hour or that I loathe it, they want me to talk about. I’m buying into the system here. Maybe I shouldn’t write about out at all. But if I don’t I’ll go insane. Brett Favre will make me go nuts! So I have to get this out.

Dear Media: I DON’T CARE! I just don’t. There, I feel better. Now I move on. But how will Aaron Rodgers move on? He has to deal with this too. Now Brett Favre is invited back to compete for the starting QB position. Hey Aaron, just do one thing for me. Send Green Bay a letter that looks like this:

Dear Green Bay,

TRADE ME!

xoxo,

Aaron Rodgers

[Image via Newscom]

This guy just won’t go away now will he? I guess I could stop talking about him but it’s like a train wreck. As much as I want to look away, I just can’t.

ESPN is reporting that the New York Jets obtained permission to speak to Brett Favre. Brett Favre a Jet? Brett Favre in New York? Yes the media loves him now but what happens when all those interceptions follow him? Will the New York Media love him then. Of course he could not go to New York and has a slight chance of ending up in Tampa Bay. We all know how much John Gruden loves quarterbacks.

But then again, he could just end up back in Green Bay like all of this never happened. Sources are saying that he has decided to go to the Packers training camp. Don’t believe? Cue the video.