New 49ers stadium now set to open a year early, in 2014

The new home for the San Francisco 49ers will be a reality even sooner than planned.  According to the San Jose Mercury News, the stadium in Santa Clara will be ready for the 2014 season, a year earlier than previously expected.

“We’re going to be playing football here in 2014,” Santa Clara Mayor Jamie Matthews said Friday.  “I have no doubt whatsoever.”

This means the Niners will spend only two more seasons at Candlestick Park, once the final arrangement to build the stadium is approved on Tuesday by Santa Clara officials.  The firm building the stadium will be required to start by July 1, 2012 and to finish by late August 2014.  Failure to deliver the stadium on a timely basis will result in penalties of $6 million for each 49ers game missed, along with daily fines that could reach $20 million.  If the stadium is finished in time for the 2014 preseason, a $5 million bonus will be paid.

Per the Mercury News, the penalties could cause the construction firm to actually lose money if the stadium isn’t finished on time.

Previously, the goal had been to start construction in January 2013 and open the stadium in 2015.  The finalization of funding, including most recently $200 million from the league, has allowed the timetable to be accelerated.

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Former NFL kicker Mike Vanderjagt has been suspended from his middle school coaching job after he was accused of grabbing and screaming at a student, apparently because the child taunted Vanderjagt over his missed field goal in the Colts’ loss to the Steelers in the 2005 playoffs.

The Naples News reports that Vanderjagt is a part-time coach at a middle school in Marco Island, Florida, but that he was suspended from that position when the school’s dean of students called the police to say that Vanderjagt had been witnessed grabbing a student by the throat. According to the police report, a student was taunting Vanderjagt by yelling “wide left, wide left,” and Vanderjagt walked up to him, grabbed him by the throat and started cursing at him. Both the student involved (who apparently didn’t realize that Vanderjagt’s miss against the Steelers was actually wide right) and another student who witnessed the incident told police the same story.

That sounds a bit like what got Bobby Knight fired from a much higher-profile coaching job, and it’s unsurprising that Vanderjagt’s side of the story is similar to Knight’s story when he got fired at Indiana: Knight said he was simply trying to teach a young man to respect his elders, and Vanderjagt said that he decided he had had enough after students had been taunting him about missed field goals for months.

Vanderjagt said he did nothing more than put his hand on the child’s shoulder at the base of his neck to hold him in place while talking to him, and he had no intention of hurting or threatening the student. Police forwarded their report to the state’s attorney’s office, which decided not to press charges. It will be up to the principal to decide when or if Vanderjagt is reinstated to coaching.

Vanderjagt spent eight years in Indianapolis and had some very good seasons but is remembered by many for that miss against the Steelers, which was his last kick with the Colts before spending one final NFL season with the Cowboys. He’s also remembered for being famously roasted by Peyton Manning, who called him a “liquored-up” “idiot kicker.” The always reliable Wikipedia says that Vanderjagt is currently working as a pizza delivery man.

AP

The Bengals have done their best to distance the stripes on their helmet from prison stripes in recent years, but one of their undrafted rookie signings is bringing back the old associations.

Linebacker Brandon Joiner has been sentenced to three years in prison for two counts of aggravated robbery and one count of felony drug possession. The charges stem from an incident in 2007 when Joiner was playing at Texas A&M.

Joiner and another man forced their way into an apartment and assaulted two men before binding them with duct tape. They stole their wallets, keys, cellphones and marijuana. When police searched Joiner’s home they also found hydrocodone and Ectasy.

Joiner finished out his collegiate career at Arkansas State after the arrest forced him off the Texas A&M team. Joiner’s lawyer said that they hope he will be released on parole after six to nine months if Joiner behaves himself behind bars.

“Since this incident, Brandon has conducted himself in an exemplary fashion and I’m sure he will continue to do that,” attorney Jay Granberry said, via the Bryan/College Station Eagle. “There are a lot of people rooting for Brandon and I’m convinced he’s not going to let anyone down.”

The Bengals haven’t made any comment about Joiner’s status at this point.

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The Dolphins have signed another draft pick.

The team announced Friday that they have agreed to terms on a contract with linebacker Josh Kaddu, who they selected in the fifth round last month. As with all players signed after the first round, Kaddu signed a four-year deal.

Kaddu will play outside linebacker for the Dolphins, likely on the strong side of the formation. He doesn’t figure to challenge for a starting spot any time soon, but the Dolphins hope his size and athleticism will come in handy on special teams in the 2012 season. Kaddu had an excellent career at Oregon and his draft status might have been deflated a bit because of a hamstring injury that caused him to miss the combine.

With Kaddu in the fold, the Dolphins have now signed four of their nine draft picks. It also means we’re even closer to having 253 draftees under contract before Memorial Day.

We’re sure you’ve got big plans for Memorial Day weekend, but there’s no better way to kick it off than with Friday’s episode of PFT Live.

Cardinals defensive end Calais Campbell will join Mike Florio to talk about life since signing his new contract a couple of weeks ago. We’ll also find out about how things look on the defensive side of the ball in the desert where Campbell will be counted on as leader.

Florio will also speak with Ross Tucker of Sirius XM NFL Radio. Tucker, who is also a game analyst for Sports USA, and Florio will discuss the news that came out of the various Organized Team Activities around the league this week. They’ll also catch up on the juiciest quarterback competitions and talk a bit about the collusion lawsuit that has the NFLPA and NFL back at each other’s throats.

You can watch it all live at noon ET.

It’s still unknown whether NFL Network will keep Warren Sapp beyond the expiration of his contract in August.  But it is known that Showtime won’t be bringing Sapp back for Inside the NFL.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports that Sapp is out.  Per Jackson, Showtime has confirmed that James Brown of CBS, Phil Simms of CBS, and Cris Collinsworth of NBC will be returning.

It’s unknown whether Showtime will be replacing Sapp on the cast.  Two years ago, Showtime wanted to hire NBC’s Rodney Harrison to moonlight.  As we heard it at the time, NBC was fine with that arrangement, but CBS (which owns Showtime) didn’t want a second NBC employee on the panel.

After several weeks off the air following an outing of former Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey as the person who blew the whistle on the bounty program, Sapp has recently returned to NFL Network.

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The mystery of Lawrence Taylor’s Super Bowl ring lives on.

Despite sharing a past filled with drugs and hookers, Charlie Sheen told Dan Patrick Friday that he was not the man who bought the ring LT received after the Giants beat the Bills in Super Bowl XXV. There was a report from Jay Glazer of FOX that Taylor and his agent were told that Sheen was the buyer of the ring, which sold at auction for $230,401, but the man responsible for the Torpedo of Truth tour said that there was no truth to it.

“As much as I would be honored to own such an important artifact, I had nothing to do with the acquisition,” Sheen said, via Patrick’s producer Paulie Pabst.

And so the search goes on. We now know that it wasn’t Osi Umenyiora, Brandon Jacobs or Sheen who bought the ring. Perhaps it was Ashton Kutcher?

AP

Alex Smith raised some eyebrows this week when he used Cam Newton as an example of how great statistics from a quarterback don’t always translate to wins. Now one of Newton’s teammates is firing back.

It started when Smith got defensive about his stats, saying that he’d rather be judged by his team’s record than his passing yards.

“I could absolutely care less on yards per game,” Smith said. “I think that is a totally overblown stat because if you’re losing games in the second half, guess what, you’re like the Carolina Panthers and you’re going no-huddle the entire second half. Yeah, Cam Newton threw for a lot of 300-yard games. That’s great. You’re not winning, though.”

There’s some validity to what Smith said there: A quarterback’s passing yardage is often dependent on the score of the game, and in most of the 49ers’ games last season they were protecting leads in the second half. That’s part of the reason that Smith ranked 27th in the NFL with 196.5 passing yards a game.

But then Panthers linebacker Jon Beason took to Twitter with a valid point of his own. Beason told Smith to keep quiet about Newton, and he took a shot at Smith over the fact that the 49ers tried to sign Peyton Manning this year before settling on bringing Smith back.

“Alex smith, don’t hate on Cam Bc your stats would’ve gotten u cut if Peyton decided to come 2 San Fran.Truth b told..That’s after a 13-3 yr,” Beason wrote.

Beason is blunt, but he has a point: The 49ers tried to sign Manning, and the Panthers didn’t try to sign Manning, and the reason for that is that the 49ers aren’t as confident that Smith is their long-term answer as the Panthers are that Newton is their long-term answer.

And when Smith says to Newton, “You’re not winning,” he seems to be suggesting that Newton is to blame for the Panthers’ 6-10 record last season, and that Smith himself deserves the credit for the 49ers’ 13-3 record. And that’s nonsense.

The reason the 49ers won more games than the Panthers last season was because the 49ers’ defense and special teams were better than the Panthers’ defense and special teams. It’s ridiculous for Smith to suggest that he did more for his team than Newton did for his team when the Panthers’ offense was better than the 49ers’ offense.

Smith did a fine job last season of playing not to lose by cutting down on his turnovers and avoiding mistakes on a team whose defense and special teams were among the best in the league. But Newton did an amazing job last season of arriving on the worst team in the NFL and instantly making it competitive. Beason is right: Smith shouldn’t compare himself to Newton.

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We knew Dallas Clark would be wearing a uniform other than the Colts one he’s worn since entering his league if he played in 2012, but we didn’t know which one until he signed with the Buccaneers this week.

That wasn’t the only team that expressed interest in Clark’s services, however. The Chiefs and Patriots were also sniffing around the veteran tight end before he decided to walk the plank in Tampa. Clark went on ESPN Radio with Doug Gottlieb, which came to us via JoeBucsFan.com, to explain his decision.

“All three very, very good organizations. I had a feeling that when I was going to make the decision it was just going to be easy and it was going to be clear cut,” Clark said. “But man, when you have these three teams involved and these three organizations, it was extremely hard. You know, it took me a few days, but at the end of the day it just felt right down here in Tampa.”

Not to cast aspersions on Clark’s soul searching or anything, but it doesn’t take transcendental meditation to figure out why it felt right in Tampa. The Buccaneers traded away Kellen Winslow, leaving plenty of snaps for Clark’s taking if he is healthy enough to grab them.

That wouldn’t be the case in New England, where Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez have the position locked down. Kansas City has Tony Moeaki and Kevin Boss at tight end, which might not be quite as daunting a duo but would definitely get in the way of ample playing time for Clark.

AP

Three weeks ago, I desperately wanted a break from all the stories about whether kids should play football.  Now, I desperately want a break from all the stories about the back-to-the-future toxic relationship between the NFL and the NFLPA.

And, of course, the respite comes via another story about whether kids should play football.

But this one goes the other way.  It’s not about why kids shouldn’t play football.  It’s about why kids should play football.

Steelers safety Troy Polamalu had this to say on the subject, via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:  “Absolutely.  You face so many different adversities.  You deal with so much emotionally, but what makes this sport unique is that you can deal with a lot physically.  You face guys that are bigger, stronger and faster than you.  You can be physically dominated, but you still have to get up and fight.  That’s a type of thing you can’t learn anywhere else, especially not in any other sport.”

Teammate Larry Foote agrees.  “Yes, because they’re just starting to scratch the surface of making the game safer — and they are trying,” Foote said, perhaps not recognizing the irony in his remarks regarding safety, given that his teammates consistently complain about efforts to make the game safer.  “My son isn’t going to be skateboarding or any X-Games type of activities.  The way I feel about that stuff is the way some people feel about football, that it isn’t safe.  But I know how football challenges you every day, how you learn discipline and control.  Once you start learning those things you can apply them to anything, including studying and especially life.”

Of course, the same could be said of skateboarding or X-Games activities, or plenty of other sports or endeavors that entail physical exertion and, in turn, physical risk.

Polamalu acknowledges that everyone may assess those risks differently.  “I don’t know if parents should feel comfortable [letting kids play football], to be honest,” Polamalu said.  “It’s not the responsibility of the game to make anybody feel comfortable.”

The question is how much risk — and in turn discomfort — will be tolerated by a parent, or by the child once the child is old enough to make his or her own decision.  It’s unclear where the line is.  But for most parents it still resides somewhere between playing football and re-enacting scenes from the Jackass movies.

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Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow might be all about competition these days, but Sanchez’s agent doesn’t think it will amount to much.

On a busy day when breathless reports of the 7-on-7 drills at Jets OTAs provided another clue about how all-encompassing coverage of the Jets will be this season, Sanchez’s agent Brian Murphy took to Twitter to pump up his client. Murphy doesn’t take kindly to the media’s attempt to make Sanchez-Tebow into a full-fledged fight for the starting quarterback job.

“No offense media, but of course Sanchez is going to out perform Tim T. Mark is a franchise quarterback and Tim is a great athlete.”

It’s true, Sanchez is a franchise quarterback. It just happens to be for a franchise that saw no problem bringing in a quarterback that they knew would instantly and constantly fan the flames for Sanchez to be replaced as the team’s starter. The fact that Sanchez outperforms Tebow in practice isn’t going to change that one bit.

Like everyone who has criticized Tebow, Murphy quickly realized that it is a sure way to ruffle feathers. He tried to smooth them out a little bit later, again via Twitter.

“Didn’t mean to create a stir nor disrespect TT who has done nothing but excel on football field. This is my opinion and time will tell.”

Not bad for the first full day of the Sanchez-Tebow Jets. Things should only get better (for those of us watching, anyway) from here on out.

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Over the past several weeks, ample discussion and speculation have emerged regarding the teams that will (or, more accurately, won’t) appear on HBO’s Hard Knocks.

Michael Shain of the New York Post (via SportsBusiness Daily) reports that HBO wants to have its team picked by June 1.

Plenty of franchises are out of the running.  Redskins coach Mike Shanahan and Seahawks G.M. John Schneider separately have told PFT Live over the past week or so that their teams aren’t interested.  49ers owner Jed York removed his team from the running in response to a PFT tweet regarding Shanahan’s lack of interest.  Also, the Falcons previously declined an offer to appear on the program.

The Broncos reportedly have passed.  Ditto for the Texans.  Jets G.M. Mike Tannenbaum told PFT Live last week that the Jets haven’t been offered the assignment (which possibly means they’ve made it known in advance that they don’t want to do it).

Per the report, NFL Films president Steve Sabol has been unable to personally recruit teams as he continues to fight brain cancer.  “Without him going out to the teams twisting arms,” an unnamed “insider” told the Post, “it’s been hard.”

Still, HBO privately claims that there will be a team, and thus there will be a show.  (The Jaguars currently are believed to be the only team that actually wants to do it.)

My first choice would be the Jets.  Then the Saints.  Then the Broncos, Colts, and Redskins.  Beyond those five teams, it simply won’t be appointment viewing in 2012.

I’ve got a feeling — just a feeling — it’s going to be the Cowboys.

Feel free to post your preferences and/or guesses in the comments.

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When Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall tore his ACL in the season finale, it created some doubt about whether he’d be able to get back on the field in time to help the team during the 2012 season.

Mendenhall still isn’t sure when he’ll be back, but he’s adamant that he won’t miss the entire season. Scott Brown of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that the team is prepared for the possibility that he will have to start the year on the PUP list, but Mendenhall isn’t willing to give up hope that he’ll be on the field for the Sunday night game against the Broncos on September 9th.

“There’s always the possibility,” Mendenhall said. “I’ll be back at some point. It’s just a matter of what point that is.”

Mendenhall said that he has been running and cutting, but that he also still has soreness and swelling in the knee. That makes it difficult to predict what kind of shape Mendenhall will be in when September rolls around. The fact that he’s entering the final year of his contract makes it more likely that Mendenhall will make sure he’s fully ready to play before pushing himself too far too fast.

Isaac Redman will likely take Mendenhall’s place in the starting lineup with Jonathan Dwyer, Baron Batch and rookie Chris Rainey also in the backfield mix.

Reuters

Last month the NFL and the players’ union agreed that before testing of players for human growth hormone would begin, a population study would be conducted at an independent lab to help determine the threshold for what constitutes a positive test for HGH. But now that agreement has hit a snag.

NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith said at his press conference on Thursday that a new lab will have to be found to conduct the study, because the researcher the NFL initially commissioned now says he can’t do the job.

“We just recently found out . . . the league’s choice to run the population study that we had consented to recently withdrew and said that he wasn’t the right person to get this done,” Smith said. “I’m thrilled that the league has made a decision to move forward with the population study. I’m a little frustrated that their selection has now pulled out so that we have to again re-up and try to get this done.”

The league and the union agreed last year that players would get blood tests for HGH. But those tests still haven’t begun because the two sides haven’t been able to agree on all the details of that testing. Smith said Thursday that the population study is not the only outstanding issue.

So even though it was agreed to nearly a year ago, HGH testing may not begin any time soon.

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Bills DT Torell Troup is hoping for a redemptive season.

Will RB Reggie Bush factor on returns for the Dolphins?

RB Joseph Addai is getting used to life as a member of the Patriots.

Jets RB Shonn Greene looked slimmer at Thursday’s practice.

Ravens S Bernard Pollard called his extension with the team a blessing.

Defensive assistant Hue Jackson has been an animated presence at Bengals practices.

CB Sheldon Brown is helping Browns rookies transition to the NFL.

Steelers CB Keenan Lewis is excited about the opportunities in front of him this season.

QB Case Keenum is getting used to taking snaps from center at Texans practice.

Paul Kuharsky of ESPN.com outlines dream and nightmare scenarios for the Colts.

Former Jaguars T Richard Collier, paralyzed in a shooting in 2008, spoke to the team on Thursday.

The Titans are building a performance stage at LP Field.

There aren’t too many people missing Tim Tebow around the Broncos.

DT Dontari Poe is seeing more snaps in passing situations during Chiefs practice.

Raiders rookies are feeling a bit more comfortable after two weeks of practice with the team’s veterans.

Chargers LB Shaun Phillips likes the new additions to the defense.

QB Stephen McGee could lose his spot on the Cowboys roster.

The Giants signed CB Dante Hughes to replace Brian Witherspoon on the roster.

Said Eagles coach Andy Reid of QB Nick Foles, “Lots of little things. He’s completing balls and his completion percentage is way up there. He’s doing a good job with that and knowing the limited amount that he knows right now. He’s a smart kid and we’re throwing a ton at him right now. We really like his attitude.”

Redskins WR Santana Moss wants to regain the form that eluded him last season.

Bears RB Michael Bush knows that he’s going to play a similar role to the one he played in Oakland.

Chris McCosky of the Detroit News thinks Lions WR Titus Young deserves the benefit of the doubt after the incident with S Louis Delmas.

The Packers have an over/under of 12 wins in Vegas.

A roundup of what’s been going on at Vikings OTAs.

Curtis Lofton hopes to prove the Falcons wrong in their assessment of his abilities.

Panthers WR David Gettis said he’s on schedule for his return from a torn ACL.

Said Saints QB Chase Daniel, “I’d say I’m number 1-B right now. I obviously know what my role is on this team. And right now it’s to prepare like the starter and to take the No. 1 snaps. This is Drew’s team. I’m just here to fill in and get ready and prepare like the starter, you know, like I have from 2009, when I started here.”

T Donald Penn wants to see more running from the Buccaneers offense this season.

Rookie T Bobbie Massie is working as a backup, but the Cardinals want him to compete for the starting right tackle job.

RB Steven Jackson likes the way the Rams offense looks right now.

The 49ers won’t move T Anthony Davis to guard this offseason.

Seahawks T James Carpenter ran for the first time since ACL surgery.

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With the labor agreement between the NFL and its game officials expiring in less than a week, pro football will be heading back to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in Washington, in the hopes of working out a new deal before a lockout or a strike.

Via Mark Maske of the Washington Post, the FMCS announced on Thursday that the league and the officials’ union have accepted an offer to submit their labor dispute to mediation, an informal process where the mediator has no power over the parties, other than possibly the power of persuasion.

The NFL’s labor dispute with players went to the FMCS before the lockout began.  Once a federal antitrust lawsuit was filed against the league, it made more sense to conduct mediation within the confines of the litigation, for a variety of reasons (including the reality that mediation conducted under the umbrella of a lawsuit generally helps keep the parties in line, since the mediator has a pipeline to the judge).

The NFL already has commenced the process of lining up replacements, something the NFL did 11 years ago.  Today, however, with unprecedented focus on player safety (and increased burdens on officials to spot possible concussions), an effort to replace the officials could be extremely controversial, especially in light of the current relationship between the NFL and NFLPA.

Especially if the officials strike — and if the players are inclined to respect their picket line.