Saints Spirit

While unsigned wide receiver Terrell Owens and his agent have been insisting that there are at least five teams holding interest in signing the unrestricted free agent, by so far the Cincinnati Bengals are still the only team who made it clear that they want to sign the 37-year-old wide receiver.

According to reports, the Bengals owner Mike Brown said on Monday that his team has discussed a contract with Owens and his agent Drew Rosenhaus. Although the Bengals passed on the chance to sign the 36-year-old receiver after a tryout in March, they are now reconsidering it because Owens remains unsigned. Adding Owens to Chad Ochocinco seems a good idea to improve Bengals’ catching, at least preventing him to join another receive-needed team is no bad for the Bengals. Just imagine what if Owens puts on New Orleans Saints jersey to play against the Bengals!

Addition of Owens would also make up the Bengals’ lack of an elite quarterback like the one wearing Brett Favre jersey. Although Owens did not perform well last season with the Buffalo Bills, he could still be an ideal backup for Ochocinco. The good relationship between the two receivers could also help improve Owens’ performance in Cincinnati.

The New England Patriots do not seem ready to give their starting quarterback Tom Brady a contract extension in near future. It’s only a few weeks away from the team’s training camp, and there has not been any tangible progress in contract negotiation between the two sides. Perhaps it’s because Brady has made it clear that he has no intension to join another team, even if he has a chance to put on Minnesota Vikings jersey to replace Brett Favre.

Brady is in his final year of his current contract with the Patriots, and there has been speculation that he could hold out the training camp if no contract is done by then. While the Vikings starting quarterback in Brett Favre jersey can earn $13 million if he returns to play for 2010 season, Brady is going to get only $3.5 million in base salary. That’s really unfair and a lot of fans would support him if he takes aggressive action to show his disappointment.

The Patriots can’t afford losing Brady and they have not got any qualified replacement in case Brady is not there. So they will eventually give Brady a satisfactory response and get something done before the regular season begins to make sure the starting quarterback has a strong enough motivation to play better than before.

Since the Dallas Cowboys rookie wide receiver was given the number 88 that was used to be worn on Michael Irvin jersey, he has been expected to be like the former Cowboys legendary receiver in everything. While the rookie still needs time to prove his talent and qualification to wear number 88, he firstly got enough recognition from the team and became the first first-round draft pick to be signed.

According to reports, the Cowboys signed Bryant to a five-year contract worth $11.8 million on Thursday. The deal was just done in time to bring Bryant back from having fun with friends in Brett Favre jerseys to working out in team’s training camp, which begins on Friday. With the team’s move, it’s highly expected that Bryant may become another competitor along with Roy Williams opposite Miles Austin for the starting job.

“This was very important to me to be able to get this done in time for the first practice,” Bryant said in a statement released by the team. “I want to help this team. I want to compete. I can’t wait to start playing football again.”

While most others sound doubtful about Bryant’s performance in his rookie season, the Cowboys seem to be very confident and willing to give anything necessary to bring out the best of the rookie. Hope they are right and get more chance to win the Super Bowl XLV.

Former Oakland Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell was previously listed by UFL team Omaha Nighthawks’ on their roster. However, his name was recently removed, possibly because the jobless quarterback has made it clear that he had no interest in joining an UFL team. Although his value had been denied by his former NFL team, Russell still thought that he could return to the league.

Not long after he was released by the Raiders after disappointing three-year tenure, Russell was still having some supporters and it was reported that some teams were contacting him for possible cooperation. However, he was involved into a legal trouble early this month and almost cut all his ways back to the league, let alone the chance of putting on his favorite Minnesota Vikings jersey. He is now facing a July 20 court date in Mobile, Ala., after being recently arrested for illegal possession of codeine syrup.

So there is only slim chance for Russell to play for an NFL team again. Now almost everyone believes that he is one of the biggest draft pick bust and taunts him for wearing a Brett Favre jersey to appear in public, saying that he is far away from being like the 41-year-old quarterback.

The Green Bay Packers will have one less veteran defensive man for the whole upcoming 2010 season after defensive end Johnny Jolly received an indefinite suspension from the league. By so far it’s only confirmed that Jolly would not be available for the whole 2010 season plus the post season. The player needs to wait until after the Super Bowl to apply for reinstatement.

Will the long-term suspension cause Jolly to lose his job with the Packers? Possibly, but it’s not admitted by the team yet. So there are only rumors and speculations. At least Packers general manager Ted Thompson still has some good words of Jolly.

“Johnny is a good player that loves everything about the game of football,” Thompson said in a statement. “We appreciate the contributions he has made to the Packers the past four seasons. His focus and priorities now lie elsewhere—our thoughts are with him during this difficult personal time.”

Jolly did not play much when the Packers were still quarterbacked by the man wearing No.4 Brett Favre jersey, and his production increased a lot during the past two seasons after Favre left the team. So even if Jolly lost his job with the Packers because of the suspension, it’s unlikely for him to put on the Minnesota Vikings jersey to team up with Favre again!

The Philadelphia Eagles starting quarterback Kevin Kolb recently vouched for his backup Michael Vick, who was involved into a shooting case and caused a lot of speculations on his career future. Instead of criticizing Vick for behavior inappropriately, Kolb said he would offer any help Vick needs to go through all the troubles.

“I just told him that it was unfortunate what he had to go through,” Kolb told Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I just said, ‘If there’s anything I can do, whatever it is, I don’t care, just holler.’ And, of course, he said, ‘I appreciate it.’ I think people misunderstand Michael a little bit. They don’t understand how good of a guy he is. But I think (players and coaches) all see that. I just hate – and this is what he’s upset about – that he got his name (dragged) back through the mud. For an outsider looking in … they don’t even know what the story is. They’re just seeing something negative with his name and it looks bad.”

However, Kolb himself did not receiver many supports from his fans for supporting the trouble maker. Many of them argued that Vick’s behavior caused serious negative impact on the team’s reputation. Even if Vick was finally not charged with a crime, the trouble involving just made the Eagles look stupid in retaining such a quarterback. So Kolb’s support could not prevent Vick from being cut and the backup quarterback could still have to try whether he can get a chance to put on the New Orleans Saints jersey or other teams’ uniform as a backup role. He may have also to give up the ambition of becoming a starter in the rest of his NFL career.

According to reports, the Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley is unlikely to receive a new contract during this season. In that case, he will become a free agent when his current contract expires following the 2010 season. As the Steelers have a tradition of not signing free agent back, Woodley may take the chance to put on his favorite New Orleans Saints jersey.

The Steelers rarely negotiate with players during the season. And while there is a chance the Steelers could put the franchise tag on Woodley, there is no assurance the tag will be included in a new collective bargaining agreement. So that’s the uncapped year complicated the whole negotiating process. In a capped NFL year, players can’t make more than 30 percent more than they did in the previous year. But in uncapped years, there will be no restriction and a team will have to think carefully before signing a new contract with any player.

To be honestly, no Steelers official deny that Woodley deserves a big extension. The Pro Bowl outside linebacker has become one of the league’s top pass rushers and he has made 25 sacks over the last two seasons for the Steelers.

According to latest reports, the Miami Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder may eventually have to stay on injured reserve for the entire 2010 season because of a foot injury that put him on IR list in late last season. In that case, the Dolphins will have to promote some backup linebacker to replace Crowder on the starting line.

Earlier in this offseason, Crowder seemed to be in smooth progress on his recovery and he was able to participate in full practices last month. That practice participation was his first one since getting injured in the 2009 season and could also be his last one in 2010 as he seemed to aggravate the injury during a practice and he did not appear again for any workout this month. And there have been a lot of reports saying that Crowder could have to be sidelined for the entire 2010 season.

Crowder has never missed an entire season since he was drafted by the Dolphins in 2005 as a third-round draft pick. Actually, he stated at least 10 games in each of the past five seasons. If his absence is confirmed, newly acquired Tim Dobbins may be the top choice for replacement. Dobbins took off his New Orleans Saints jersey during his free agency and joined the Dolphins last month.

Ex-NFL coach Tony Dungy recently made it clear that he would not return to work for any NFL team as a football coach any more, saying that he had achieved enough during earlier years, and now he wants only to enjoy his post-career life with family.

“I feel very fulfilled and rewarded,” Dungy told the Indianapolis Star. “And I do realize that there is life after football. I may have to retire from retirement.” On a visit to Indianapolis, Dungy and his wife were promoting their new books “The Mentor Leader: A Different Way to Lead.” The former Colts and Buccaneers coach is now working as an NBC analyst and also writing a series books for children. I guess such a life is much funnier than coaching any NFL team.

But it is still hard of Dungy to get away from football completely. According to reports, Dungy’s son is also a football fan and is now playing football at the University of Oregon. The young Dungy wishes to put on the Minnesota Vikings jersey one day and become a great quarterback like his idol NFL player Brett Favre.

After signing the one-year tender for restricted free agent, the New Orleans Saints running back Pierre Thomas still has his hope alive for a new long-term contract. The tender contract is for only one more year and pays him $1.684 million for playing the 2010 season, but what Thomas wants is much more than that.

Previously, Thomas was reluctant to sign the tender offer but had to sign it on June 14, after which day the Saints would gain the right to reduce their offer to 110% of a restrict free agent’s salary in last season. To Thomas, the most important thing is to stay in the New Orleans Saints jersey, and then he can take time to continue with the contract negotiation. Thomas and his agent denied the rumors that he was seeking for a lucrative contract similar to guard Jahri Evans, but they could not deny that they indeed want a significant raise.

Thomas is now expecting that the negotiation will go somewhere by the beginning of training camp, which is only three weeks away. But it’s likely that the team is also expecting to observe Thomas for longer before making any decision on the new contract.