If 49ers wanted to change kickers, it can’t be Cundiff

At this point, the 49ers almost have no choice but to stick with kicker David Akers.

But if they did decide to bring in another one, their first choice is off the table. Billy Cundiff, who was signed to light a fire under Akers’ seat earlier this month, would be ineliglble to return, according to Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com.

For the same reason disgruntled running back Brandon Jacobs was effectively stashed once the playoffs began (since waiver claims aren’t filed until after the Super Bowl), Cundiff can’t come back to play for the 49ers after they released him Friday.

Akers hit the upright with a 38-yard field goal yesterday, the latest in a series of shaky performances this year, which will doubtless undermine whatever bit of confidence they had left in him.

Getty Images

When agent Carl Poston told ESPN’s Josina Anderson that cornerback Charles Woodson’s contract with the Raiders had a “max” value of $4.3 million, I had a feeling the base value would be far lower than that.

And it is.

Poston now tells Anderson that the deal has a base value of $1.8 million.

Incentives make up the $2.5 million balance, and it’s unclear unknown what Woodson has to do to earn any, some, or all of that amount.

Incentives are tied to individual or team performance, from playing time to wins to playoffs appearances to qualifying for the AFC title game if Woodson were to hit Tom Brady like Woodson did a dozen years ago, since the Tuck Rule finally has been scuttled.

Getty Images

Even before the Chargers added long-time Steelers left tackle Max Starks on Tuesday, San Diego’s NFL team had been giving us plenty to talk about after a humdrum offseason.

So we talked about some of it on PFT Live, with Kevin Acee of U-T San Diego.

Acee explains the issues arising from the team’s unusual decision to shield rookie linebacker Manti Te’o from the media, which are unrelated to the question of whether anyone truly wants to continue to ask Te’o about his fake dead girlfriend.  (We don’t, Acee doesn’t, and we don’t know of anyone who does.)

Acee also addresses the impact of linebacker Dwight Freeney, the status of quarterback Philip Rivers, and whatever else came up during however long we spent talking to Acee.

Getty Images

Yes, Charles Woodson has returned to the Raiders.  The next question becomes how many million reasons they gave him to do it.

According to Josina Anderson of ESPN, Woodson’s agent, Carl Poston, said that the 1997 Heisman winner’s one-year deal is worth a “max” of $4.3 million, which includes a $700,000 signing bonus.

The maximum value, while significant, isn’t nearly as important as the base deal.  And when Poston told Anderson that the deal is worth up to $4.3 million, Poston didn’t mention the base value.

It’s somewhere between $700,000 and $4.299999 million.  Unless Poston opts to disclose the amount, we’ll all have to wait until the contract officially is filed.

Woodson’s decision to sign on the same day he visited the Raiders suggests that they made an offer that met his demands.  Over the weekend, Woodson said he’d be interested in the Lions “[i]f I make it out of my visit with Oakland, like I just made it out of the visit with Denver.”

In other words, he had a number, and the Raiders met it.  The Broncos, 49ers, and anyone else clearly didn’t.

AP

Charles Woodson is heading back to the team that drafted him.

Woodson and the Raiders have agreed to terms on a one-year contract, Jay Glazer of FOX Sports first reported and the Raiders later confirmed.

The move comes as no surprise, as Woodson had visited Oakland and the Raiders were one of the few teams known to be interested. The 36-year-old Woodson has acknowledged that he didn’t have a lot of options after the Packers released him, although there was talk in recent days that interest was picking up from the Broncos.

The Raiders selected Woodson with the fourth overall pick in the 1998 NFL draft, and he was selected to the Pro Bowl in each of his first four seasons in Oakland. Woodson left for the Packers in free agency in 2006. Now he’s returning to his original team for another season, nearing the end of his NFL career in the place where it began.

AP

Commissioner Roger Goodell says the NFL needs to move the draft from late April to May because of potential scheduling conflict at Radio City Music Hall, where the draft has been held every year since 2006.

According to Don Banks of SI.com, multiple team execs are opposed to the move.

“You’d be hard-pressed to find any football-side person in the league in favor of it,” an unnamed AFC G.M. told Banks.  “Unless you consider having more time for draft preparation a benefit, more time for paralysis by analysis, there’s nothing to like. I’ve tried to think of one [positive], but I haven’t yet.”

One unnamed NFC executive doesn’t buy the excuse for the move.

“The league coming out and saying this is because of the Easter Bunny and the [Radio City Spring Spectacular] is almost embarrassing,” the unnamed executive told Banks.  “This is the NFL.  You think we couldn’t get those dates or make something work if we really wanted to?  This is about moving the draft into May for [TV network] sweeps month.  I’d rather somebody be honest and come out and just admit that it’s about ratings and TV issues.  But I get it.  I suppose we all should be thankful in that everybody in the league benefits financially when the league has success from a TV perspective.”

The root of the consternation comes from the stubborn resistance to change demonstrated by coaches and football executives.

“We’re all creatures of habit in this league, and we like things the way they are,” the unnamed NFC club executive told Banks.  “Anything new is not going to be popular.  We already have too much time to do draft analysis as is, and now maybe we’re going to have another three weeks of it?  Next week we actually start working on next year’s draft, but if the draft isn’t held until mid-May, that work doesn’t even begin until June.  And then it’s only late June or early July when things finally slow down.”

An unnamed NFL executive knows the fight is coming.

“The football ops people will raise hell,” the unnamed NFL exec said.  “There are bunch of issues in play here, so don’t think that it’s done.  Coaches and front office executives aren’t going to like not having their hands on their new players for another two or three weeks.

“They’ll say, ‘Hey, we need to get our hands on them and we need to coach them.’ So this could wind up having an effect on some integrity of the game issues, and we need to listen to that. There’s a lot of ground to cover on this and there’s a long way to go.  This isn’t over at all.”

Still, it’s clear the NFL wants to nudge the draft into May.  Next year, it will happen; the only question is whether the draft starts on May 8 or May 15.  After the draft moves to May and the pro football world continues to spin, it’ll be easier for the league office to sell the teams on change moving forward.

Or, if need be, to force change upon them.

AP

The man who would have loved to host Super Bowl L or LI in Cowboys Stadium has shown grace and class in response to the news that one of the two games will be played down the road in Houston.

“The presentation was one of the best I’ve ever seen,” Jones tells FOX 26 of the Houston presentation.  “So professionally done. They talked about what football meant in Texas.”

Jones also had great things to say about Texans owner Bob McNair.

“Bob McNair came into the league as maybe one of the top four or five owners and has probably elevated himself up to the best one,” Jones said.

It’s a far cry from a dismissive crack Jones made in 2008 about Houston and the Texans.

“The Cowboys have never been about checkered tablecloths and boots and hats,” Jones said at the time.  “They’ve been about glitz and glitter.  Leave the other stuff to the Houston Texans.”

McNair had no problem with the things Jerry said nearly five years ago.

“I’m not offended by what Jerry said,” McNair said at the time. “I’m glad he knows we’re the Texans.  I’m proud to be a Texan and a Houstonian. . . .  Houston’s a hardworking city, and the Texans are a hardworking team.  I don’t see anything wrong with checkered tablecloths, hats and boots.”

He also doesn’t see anything wrong with Super Bowls.  After all, Houston will be hosting its third in 2017.  Dallas is stuck at one.

AP

The wisdom of Tampa Bay’s trade for cornerback Darrelle Revis ultimately will be determined by the player’s performance in 2013 and beyond.  His performance in 2013 hinges on the performance of his surgically-repaired knee.

The good news for Revis and the Bucs (and the bad news for everyone they play) is that Revis now has clearance to cut and change directions.

“I feel very confident,” Revis tells Andrea Kremer of NFL Network in the latest installment of Health of the Game:  Project Revis.  “If Todd tells me to cut, I am cutting.  I am not trying to think about [it].”

Revis remains confident that he’ll return to the form that made him the best cornerback in the league.

“The first time I step out there, I’ll be fine,” Revis said.

Coach Greg Schiano hopes he’ll get Revis at 100 percent, but Schiano will settle for less.

“That’s how we’re planning. I mean, we have faith that he’s going to recover,” Schiano said.  “If it isn’t exactly that way right away, then we’ll adapt.  Eighty-five or 90 percent of Darrelle Revis is still better than most 100 percent other corners, right?”

He’s right.  But the 13th overall pick in the 2013 draft and a third-round pick (unless Revis is cut before next March) in 2014 will be hard to justify if he’s many percentage points below the maximum.

AP

With NFL owners voting to put a Super Bowl in MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, it’s logical to wonder if more outdoor title games in cold-weather locales are possible.

So, how about the Boston area getting a game?

The subject came up at NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s press conference at the conclusion of the league meetings Tuesday in Boston, and Goodell’s answer shed some light on the various issues that would go into such a decision.

“It is a great city,” Goodell said, according to a transcript provided by the league. “We stress this over and over again. We are holding our first northern site Super Bowl at the end of this season. We want to see what that experience is like.

“It is more than just a game now. I keep emphasizing that. This is a week-long event. We have multiple events that need multiple facilitates. We are at [a need for] well over 25,000 hotel rooms now.

“. . . If there is an interest at some point in time and we decide to look at open-air northern site Super Bowl cities, I assume the Patriots will look at that.”

Gillette Stadium, home of the Patriots, opened in 2002. All Super Bowls through 2017 are spoken for with owners selecting San Francisco and Houston as host cities in 2016 and 2017, respectively, on Tuesday.

A New York-New Jersey Super Bowl that leaves teams, corporate sponsors and fans pleased could open up some intriguing possibilities for the league. But Goodell’s response was telling. The league looks to be taking a wait-and-see approach on expanding the pool of host cities with outdoor stadiums in cooler climates.

AP

The Broncos continue to deal with the aftermath of a special season that went awry during a divisional-round double-overtime playoff loss to the Ravens, fueled by a 70-yard touchdown pass allowed by the Denver defense in the final minute of regulation.

Defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio was sorry for what happened.  But then he got sick of being sorry.

“I got tired of apologizing to our fans that I would see out in the community,” Del Rio told reporters on Tuesday, via quotes distributed by the team.  “I finally said, ‘Hey, you know, it’s time to move on.’   That’s kind of how I look at it.  I was apologizing.  I was like, ‘Golly, I’m really sorry that we let you down.  I know how you were there with us.’   It was a tough one.  Anywhere, wherever you see fans and we have interactions.  I really felt like we let them down.  Obviously we let ourselves down first.”

But Del Rio is done with feeling sorry for himself, or to anyone else.

“That’s way in the past now,” Del Rio said.  “At this point, it’s in our rear-view mirror.  You learn what you can about anything that you experience in life and go forward.  That’s where we are.  We’re going forward.”

As the Broncos go forward, they’ll continue to be regarded as an elite team with a real chance of going to Super Bowl XLVIII.  Still, they’ll have to emerge from the valley of 0-0 to get there.

After seeing last season’s regular-season success evaporate so quickly, that could be hard to do.

AP

On the off chance the Cowboys have any idea who’s calling plays this year, or how they’ll be called, they’re not in the mood to talk about.

For some reason, Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett still won’t say who is taking over the responsibility that by all appearances was snatched away from him by owner Jerry Jones this offseason.

“I think we have a pretty good plan, and we’ll execute it as the offseason progresses,” Garrett said, via Calvin Watkins of ESPNDallas.com.

No reason to be in a rush fellas, it’s only May.

The usual suspect is offensive line coach/coordinator Bill Callahan, but he ducked for cover when asked about what ought to be a fairly conventional process Tuesday.

“Whatever coach wants me to do, whatever role he wants me to fill, I’m more than happy to do that,” Callahan said. “We’re working through a lot of things right now. . . .

“When that play goes in, they’re all types of options that we build into the play itself. They can be checks with me, they can be packaged with another run, run-to-run, pass-to-pass. A lot of that [goes] on when the play goes in. You have to, from the people that I’ve spoken with around the NFL. There’s a lot of teams that use that mechanism, use that procedure. That’s one way of doing it.”

That points to the added influence quarterback Tony Romo will have. But no one knows whether to think quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson might have a hand in it, or another coach, or Jones himself.

But the latest simple thing-made-complicated can’t possibly help the Cowboys on the field.

Getty Images

Tony Romo’s first coach with the Cowboys, Bill Parcells, liked to say that you are what your record says you are. But Romo doesn’t exactly see it that way.

Romo told reporters today that despite the Cowboys’ .500 record, he doesn’t view himself as average, or his team as average.

“We were 8-8 the last couple of years, that doesn’t sit well with me,” Romo said, via ESPNDallas.com. “I don’t think I’m an 8-8 quarterback. I don’t think this organization is comfortable being 8-8. We’re going to do everything we can as coaches, players and in this building to change that. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that doesn’t happen again. That just sits there and eats at you. We make choices to do everything that we can to change that. That’s the approach you take in an offseason. Really every offseason, but it’s there, staring us in the face right now. We’re going to exhaust everything to make sure this football team gets better to take the next step.”

Romo said he believes the Cowboys are improving.

“Now it’s obviously been some good times and some times that we’ve had some rough spots, obviously,” Romo said. “In a lot of ways I know that this team is continuing to get better, and using those experiences to be better, and it’s going to be good.”

And 8-8 is not good.

AP

The Turk could be getting a visit from, well, the Turk.

At a press conference held in connection with the quarterly ownership meetings in Boston, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said that the league is interested in making the process of widespread roster cuts more “humane,” according to multiple Twitter entries from folks covering the press conference.

Currently, the NFL’s teams jettison up to 37 players each in the days after the third preseason game through the days after fourth preseason game, cutting offseason rosters from a maximum of 90 down to 53.  Typically, the players who are getting cut are asked to meet with the coach or the G.M., they get the news, and then they move on.

It’s hard to envision a way to make the scene, which has played out numerous times on Hard Knocks over the past decade, any different.  For football players, who are used to being chewed out on the practice field, a calm, rational, matter-of-fact meeting is as “humane” as bad news ever gets.

Goodell also mentioned the possibility of post-cut services for players who will be faced with the task of transitioning to a new line of work.  Perhaps that’s how the process can become more “humane,” given that currently the players basically get a handshake and a clear path through the door.

Regardless, there’s only so much the NFL can do to alter the harsh reality that players get cut — routinely.  Whether they get a ribbon for participation or a pat on the back or a juice box or a swift kick in the ass, the end result is that the player who previously had a spot on the roster no longer does.  Other than making those post-cut services available to ease the transition to life after football, we’re not sure what else can be done.

Apart from, you know, not releasing a guy right after he is diagnosed with diabetes or any other health condition that can be managed and treated.

AP

In addition to discussing changes to the league’s offseason schedule on Tuesday in Boston, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell also addressed the future of the Pro Bowl.

The game is set for 2014 in Hawaii and Goodell said that the league is still contemplating changes to the game to make it more entertaining for fans and players alike. Goodell did not address talk about making the Pro Bowl more like a “game show” in the future, but he did touch on another proposal that’s been bandied about in recent weeks.

Goodell said that the idea of having team captains pick two squads from the players voted into the game under the current process was one that “may happen” as soon as this season. He credited players for coming up with the idea of having a schoolyard-style draft to set the rosters for the game and indicated that a decision could come soon about the format that this year’s game will take.

There wasn’t much direct discussion of the future of the game overall, although Goodell did say that the league had interest from cities on the mainland about hosting the game in the future. That (and still-strong TV ratings) could serve as a suggestion that the Pro Bowl isn’t going away despite the many complaints about its quality.

Getty Images

Yet another former Eagle has landed in Cleveland.

On Tuesday, the Browns announced they were awarded rookie running back Miguel Maysonet on waivers from Philadelphia.

In something of a surprise move, the Eagles let go of Maysonet after giving him a healthy signing bonus for an undrafted free agent. In Cleveland, he will compete with Montario Hardesty, Chris Ogbonnaya, Brandon Jackson and Dion Lewis — another ex-Eagle — for backup spots in the Browns’ backfield.

With Maysonet arriving, the Browns waived fellow rookie tailback Jamaine Cook.

Trent Richarson is the Browns’ featured back, and Hardesty, Ogbonnaya and Jackson were his backups a season. The question is, who sticks on the depth chart behind Richardson this year? The competition got a little more crowded on Tuesday.

AP

At a press conference to wrap up the league meetings in Boston, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said that the league saw “no choice” but moving next year’s draft to May because of a conflict with Radio City Music Hall.

Goodell said that a choice would be made soon about whether to hold the draft from May 8-10 or May 15-17 in New York. The change has been forced by a conflict with another event at the venue and Goodell said that there’s been no determination about when the event would be held beyond 2014. Because the conflicts with the spring event at Radio City will recur, the Commissioner also said that the draft could move if the decision was made to move things back to April in future years.

“Beyond that, if we want to move the draft back into April, we’ll have to look at other alternatives,” Goodell said.

Goodell also said that other proposed changes to the offseason schedule, including moving the start of the league year ahead of the combine were still being discussed with the NFLPA. Goodell said that he believed that such alterations would be a “good change for fans and for football” and that the league would continue working toward an agreement on a new calendar for February, March, April and May.