Posted by Andy Benoit

Auburn's Heisman Trophy winning quarterback held a private workout in San Diego on Thursday. Here's video proof.



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Posted by Will Brinson



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• So, the Panthers, according to Steve Reed of Carolina Growl, are apparently going to run the Chargers offense next year. This isn't surprising given how much success San Diego had on the offensive end, and the fact that Ron Rivera and Rob Chudzinski are now in town. Three problems stand out though. The Panthers don't have 1) Philip Rivers, 2) Antonio Gates, or 3) Norv Turner. 

• Want the real story behind Aaron Rodgers' WWE championship belt? The National Football Post has you covered.

• Doug Farrar of Yahoo! Sports is whipping through a Top-40 list of NFL Draft prospects. Ryan Mallett (who checks in at No. 37) is at one point called a "statue with a cannon attached," if that makes you feel good about your team maybe drafting him. It shouldn't.

• The Dolphins have reworked Will Allen's contract so he can stay with the team in 2011, according to his agent Drew Rosenhaus.

• Ray Horton, newly of the Arizona Cardinals, wants to run an "aggressive, downfield defense" in his new home.

• Cam Newton's Tim Tebow-like media party is underway, starting today at 1:00 PM EST in San Diego. Weeeeeee!

• Yowza. It's going to cost about $12.5 million for the Ravens to franchise Haloti Ngata. As Jamison Hensley points out, Baltimore can thank Dan Snyder for giving Albert Haynesworth that fatty contract, since last year, defensive tackles got $7 million.

• Speaking of franchise tags, it looks like Vincent Jackson of the Chargers could be in line for one too. But he's fine with that and will play. Since, you know, it means more than $10 million next year.

• Good read by Tom Friend of ESPN on what's become of William "The Fridge" Perry.

• Luis Deloureiro of the Fifth Down takes a look at whether or not Ben Roethlisberger is already a lock-job Hall of Famer.

Posted by Will Brinson



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• So, as it turns out, the bookies aren't so smart after all. Okay, they're smart, but they're not perfect -- having Green Bay as a 2.5-poing favorite (or 3-point fave at kickoff depending on where you went) ended up torching them, as America laid tons of money on the Packers. At one point, Jay Rood, the guy runs the MGM's sportsbook, took a call from his boss who asked "What's the worst-case scenario?" Rood answered: "It's happening."

• The Cardinals are pursuing Steelers linebackers coach Keith Butler, according to Jason LaCanfora.

• The Onion's solution to solving the Super Bowl halftime woes? A murder-mystery, natch.

• Want to see Aaron Rodgers give golf tips to Kevin from "The Office"?

• Fergie weighed in on Christina Aguilera's singing of the Anthem. Which is must-read analysis because the Black Eyed Peas were SOOOOO AWEZUM at halftime. /sarcasm

• Glenn Beck doesn't think that the "sports players" in last night's "sports game" were patriotic enough when it came to listening to the National Anthem. This was right after he mocked the National Anthem.

• The Sports Pickle has the NFL's Facebook page from last night. Had me at "Ears."

• Cam Newton apparently wants to work Brett Favre as a mentor. Because he loves to retire? Or send text messages?

• Aguilera was at least good enough to warrant the Syracuse Crunch inviting her to sing the Anthem for them. Yes, I think they're a minor league hockey team.

• The Eagles have named Mike Caldwell linebackers coach and Mike Zordich secondary/safeties coach

Posted by Andy Benoit

Charles Woodson had the best line ever about President Barack Obama. Before Sunday’s NFC Championship, Obama said the First Family would be going to the Super Bowl if the Bears made it. Woodson said after the game, "If you're not going to see us, then we're going to come see you."

Cam Newton is in San Diego working with quarterback guru George Whitfield Jr. in preparation for April’s draft.


Jon Beason will replace Lance Briggs in the Pro Bowl. London Fletcher will replace Brian Urlacher. (Next year we’ll just report when original Pro Bowlers do NOT drop out of the game.)

Receivers coach Todd Monken will replace Mike Shula as the quarterbacks coach in Jacksonville. Offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter also has experience coaching NFL QB’s (he spent a short time in Green Bay).


Because Ken Whisenhunt figures to pluck his new defensive coordinator from Pittsburgh’s staff, the Cardinals must wait another two weeks to fill the position. (Though he’ll interview several candidates at the Senior Bowl.)


Gotta give some love to our pal Peter King. He picked Packers-Steelers back in August.


This news is a few days old, but what the heck. The Chiefs promoted Mark Donovan to president.


11-year tight end Dan Campbell (former Cowboy and Giant) is now the tight ends coach for the Dolphins. Campbell was one of the sounder blockers in the game.


Some of New York’s football pundits are criticizing Brian Schottenheimer’s play-calling. (One particularly clever New York Daily News headline referred to the play-calling as “Schotty”.


The mere mention of Eric Mangini’s name in Tennessee sparked discussion about the Titans possibly switching to a 3-4 defense. Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean says that won’t happen.

Our buddies over in CBS’s college football blog sorted out the Super Bowl rosters by college football conference. The SEC, of course, has the most players (18). Following is the Big Ten (15). In third? The MAC, with 13. No joke.

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Posted by Josh Katzowitz

• The Seattle Times breaks down Marshawn Lynch’s now-famous 67-yard TD run vs. the Saints. All eleven Seahawks who were on the field for that play were interviewed for this story. Good stuff if you like to know the inside scoop of what was happening during a specific play.

• When Reggie Jackson thinks you’re talking too much and that you should just shut up, it might be time to listen. We speak, of course, of Antonio Cromartie.

• I wonder how much John Fox’s enjoyment of Tim Tebow helped land him the Denver head coaching job. But yeah, fixing the Broncos defense is fairly important also.

• Speaking of Fox, at least one of his former players in Carolina said the Broncos will love their new head coach.

• Fox Sports’ Adam Caplan breaks down where Cam Newton will go in the 2011 NFL Draft.

• Why matching Jets CB Darrelle Revis against Patriots WR Wes Welker might not be the best idea for Rex Ryan.

• Terrell Suggs resumed his regular Tom Brady bashing on Sirius Mad Dog Radio Thursday. Of Brady’s three Super Bowl rings Suggs said, “He’s got the tuck rule incident and you got the videotaping of other teams’ practices. It’s like “Oh, OK what’s going on here?’"

• NFL.com’s Jason La Canfora reports that former Bills coach Dick Jauron will get a look at becoming Pat Shurmur’s defensive coordinator in Cleveland.

• The drug charges against former Chargers safety Kevin Ellison have been dropped, and now he’s hoping he can return to the NFL and “show teams who I am again.” Apparently, he’s NOT the kind of guy who walks around with 100 Vicodin pills in his pocket without a prescription.

• Former Giants LB Antonio Pierce thought hard about returning to the game he loved. But in the end, he decided to stay retired.

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Posted by Andy Benoit

Let the discussion begin: where will Cam Newton land in the 2011 NFL Draft? The national champion quarterback and Heisman winner announced Thursday night that he will not be returning to Auburn.

The initial prognosis is there are myriad red flags with Newton – character perhaps being the most alarming. Newton brought with him to Auburn a checkered past from Florida. And while he has not been found guilty of any wrongdoing in regards to the alleged pay for play scam involving his father, the very fact that Newton’s father has gotten tangled up the issue will raise eyebrows around the NFL. What kind of environment did Newton grow up in?

Then there are questions about his on-field abilities. By all accounts, Newton is a better athlete than quarterback. He’ll likely be viewed as a Tim Tebow minus the character (aka a Vince Young). He has a stronger arm and better mechanics than Tebow, but he has less college experience, which shows in his limited progressions and reads.

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Posted by Will Brinson



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• Jim Caldwell called a really dumb timeout against the Jets. It might have cost his team a chance to continue advancing in the playoffs. But Bill Polian doesn't think so, and he called the timeout a "moot point" on his radio show Monday, according to Big Blue Shoe at Stampede Blue. More interesting though -- Polian offered a different reason for the timeout -- he said the defense was trying to get set. That's certainly more rational than Caldwell's "we wanted to make them snap the ball" excuse, but then Polian apparently went off on a tangent about how he thought the Colts were done after Antonio Cromartie's return, barring an interception, fumble or sack. Which, um, well, no -- Nick Folk needed a 50-plus-yard field goal to win before the deep ball to Braylon Edwards. So, yeah, this timeout thing's getting awkward.

• Speaking of awkward head coaches, Wade Phillips thinks he's probably done as a head coach, because of "perception." Which is actually a good point, because Wade's 82-61 as a head coach, and yet people think he's a goof, mainly because of his 1-5 playoff record. Poor Wade.

• James Starks "definitely deserves the opportunity\" to run the ball this week, according to Mike McCarthy. Um, duh.

• Running through the Eagles offseason to-do list and, unfortunately, it appears they still need a defensive end. Which is exactly what they needed last year.

• Perhaps the Ravens, with an increasing market value for franchise quarterbacks, should go ahead and give Joe Flacco some more money.

• Derek Anderson, who takes things very seriously, got into a Twitter war with a bunch of fans and/or bloggers during Monday night's BCS game. Really freaking weird.

• Matt Hasselbeck's had his knee drained three times since he first injured it on December 26. Ew.

• According to the Kansas City Star, Chris Chambers will be saying adios to the Chiefs after this year.

• Shawne Merriman's down with the Bills drafting Cam Newton. If that helps Buddy Nix and Chan Gailey at all.

• Ben Roethlisberger said on a conference call Tuesday that he knows the Ravens weren't TRYING to break his nose.

Posted by Will Brinson

If you thought Dolphins owner Stephen Ross was done meddling with the Dolphins on-field product after his failed chase of Jim Harbaugh resulted in a complete public-relations nightmare, well, you're wrong.

Ross told the team-run website TheFinsiders.com that he'd like to see some changes on the offensive end in 2011.

"I've told Tony that to me, I want an aggressive, creative [offense] not playing just to keep it close, where people really are a little more unpredictable," Ross said, via the the Miami Herald.

Translated in the language of an owner who wants to market his football team to the fans of Miami, that basically means "something people will pay to watch."

Which is an alright notion -- teams need offense in order to succeed to a degree. It's just that Ross is clearly trying to hint that he'd love a sexy, headline-generating offense more than anything. You know, like something Chip Kelly runs.

"Our players are training in that weather," Ross said. "Let's take advantage of it. Let's go with a hurry-up offense. Let's wear them down. You know? We've never done that. You know? This isn't the north, where you just want to take it 4 yards and a cloud of dust."

Ross also mentioned a "different brand" one that's "going downfield" -- which, again, is to say he wants a lot of points scored. The problem with that, of course, is that they need a quarterback.

Wait, scratch that -- maybe the bigger problem is that they'll probably be squarely in the "Cam Newton Zone" when the NFL Draft roles around.

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