Cutler understands Urlacher’s feelings

AP

While some of his old Bears teammates might be disappointed to know that former linebacker Brian Urlacher doesn’t want them to win a Super Bowl without him, quarterback Jay Cutler said he understood.

Urlacher said he was still hoping the Bears did well, but added: “They better not win a championship without me because I’ll be really pissed.”

Cutler said he got where the statements were coming from, and didn’t hold it against his old teammate.

“I don’t blame him, I think if I had just retired, I’d probably be in the similar boat,” Cutler said, via Scott Krinch of CSNChicago.com. “You miss the game, you obviously wish everyone well, if your team does go the distance you wish you were right there with him. I can’t blame him.”

Urlacher’s departure from the Bears was handled awkwardly, and the lack of closure to what should have been a celebrated career feels extremely cold and clumsy in hindsight.

Of course, Cutler’s also entering a contract year with no hint of a new deal, so being able to compartmentalize personal feelings while business happens is something that might be useful to him in the near future.

AP

The Patriots signed Brandon Browner this offseason because he’s a big, physical cornerback capable of keeping wide receivers from doing exactly what they want while running their routes.

On Wednesday, the Pats offense got an up-close view of how Browner makes that happen. Browner shoved wide receiver Kenbrell Thompkins to the ground after a pair of plays that saw the duo matched up one-on-one and then got into a shouting match with receivers coach Chad O’Shea that ended when other members of the team separated the two.

Browner said afterwards that he came into practice with the mindset of being more aggressive after the defense “gave up a few easy balls” in Tuesday’s session. He said that he and O’Shea “hugged it out” after practice and explained why he thought the scrapes would make for a better team.

“It gets us both better,” Browner said, via CSNNE.com. “Guys on the other side of the ball, it’s what [opponents are] going to do in guys in games. And it’s what they’re going to do to me in games … That’s my style of play. Play aggressive. You don’t want to cost your team any penalties, but we’ll let the officials do their job.”

Browner will have to cool his jets for the first four games of the regular season while serving a suspension for violating the league’s drug policy, leaving the Patriots to hope that his summer work helps his teammates enough to make the absence less of a hindrance for the defense.

AP

The Ravens are continuing their public support of Ray Rice, the running back whose two-game suspension for a domestic violence incident has been widely criticized.

Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said today that he continues to support Rice and believes that Rice is making the most of a bad situation.

“I love the way he’s handled it,” Harbaugh said. “I hate what happened. What happened was wrong, flat out. The thing I appreciate about it is how Ray has handled it afterwards by acknowledging that it was wrong and he’ll do everything he can do to make it right. That’s what you ask for when someone does a wrong thing. So I’m proud of him for that, from that standpoint. And for anybody out there who’s going to misconstrue that and just write, ‘John Harbaugh is proud of Ray,’ then shame on you. I’m proud of him for the way he’s handled it, OK? Disappointed in what happened, but you go forward. You know, you go forward. That’s what we’re going to do as a football team, and that’s what we’re going to do as an individual, he’ll do as an individual.”

Although Harbaugh was careful to explain that he means he is proud of the way Rice has responded since his February arrest, and not that he condones what Rice did to result in the arrest, that distinction may not change the fact that some people simply don’t want to hear the Ravens continuing to support Rice publicly. The Ravens’ full-throated support of Rice has — like the NFL’s two-game suspension — struck many as insensitive to victims of domestic violence.

Harbaugh declined to talk about the backlash to the suspension, which has been widely decried as an indication that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell doesn’t grasp the seriousness of domestic violence.

“There’s no way I’m going to comment on the length of it, but I know this: Those that make those decisions do so with great seriousness. They aim to be just and fair and they aim to do right by all parties involved,” Harbaugh said.

But Harbaugh did say that he thinks opening the season without Rice will be tough for his team to overcome.

“It’s going to be tough for us,” Harbaugh said. “It’s going to be two games without one of our very best players. But we’ll move forward and deal with it. Beyond that, there’s really nothing else to say.”

Harbaugh may have nothing left to say, but Rice is expected to address the media on Thursday. His comments will surely be scrutinized by those who believe Rice has yet to show genuine remorse — and who believe both the Ravens and the NFL have been far too supportive of Rice.

AP

The Colts need to do a better job of protecting quarterback Andrew Luck, and that job didn’t get any easier today.

According to Stephen Holder of the Indianapolis Star, guard Donald Thomas is believed to have re-injured his quadriceps, and left the practice field early. He’s expected to have an MRI to determine the severity.

Thomas played just two games for the Colts last year before tearing his quadriceps tendon, sending him to injured reserve. The rehab process also kept him from participating in OTAs this year.

The Colts signed him to a four-year, $14 million deal last offseason, and haven’t gotten much of a return on that investment.

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It’s hard to say that a guy who signed an eight-year contract reportedly worth $98 million made a mistake.  But in the NFL, where the player is far more bound to the deal than the team, left tackle Tyron Smith apparently has given the Cowboys near-unilateral control over the balance of his career.

“There’s no way you can do a deal that long,” a league source with extensive experience negotiating player contracts told PFT.  “I’m stunned. . . .  10 years is nuts.”

The extension reportedly places Smith under contract for a total of 10 years at a payout of $110 million.  He’ll have no power to get more money, no matter how well he performs.  And if he doesn’t perform well, the only security he’ll have is the fully-guaranteed money that he received when committing himself to the Cowboys for the next decade.

The full details eventually will be known, and we’ll get a chance to see just how team friendly the contract is.  Unless every year of the contract is fully guaranteed (and if it were, that detail would have been leaked), the mere duration of the deal makes it a bad one for the player — who apparently wanted to do a contract badly enough that he was willing to make a commitment that, for nearly all NFL contracts, never is mutual.

Apparently, the Cowboys knew how badly Smith wanted that new contract, and the Cowboys took full advantage of it.

AP

Wednesday’s edition of Pro Football Talk on NBCSN delves into a potential Super Bowl matchup that has never actually happened — 49ers vs. Patriots.

This year, it could.  Which would mean New England quarterback Tom Brady would be going against the team he cheered for as a child.

He’s far from being a child now, and he’s 10 years removed from his last Super Bowl ring.  The 49ers are 20 years removed from theirs.  So today’s poll question asks which of the two is more likely to get a crack at another title to cap the 2014 season.

Tune in at 5:30 p.m. ET.  And stick around for Fantasy Football Live at 6:30 p.m. ET.

AP

Before the draft, Johnny Football was all about football, working out and studying and spending every waking moment getting himself ready to be as attractive as he possibly could be for an NFL team.

After the draft, Johnny Football became Johnny Vegas and Johnny Bieber and Johnny Rolled-Up-Hundy and everything but a guy who was all about football.  That supposedly was going to change once training camp opened, with Manziel buckling down and focusing on becoming the best football player he can be.

And so on the night before the first day off at training camp, Manziel reportedly was spotted at a bar roughly two miles from the team’s headquarters, according to Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal.

As Ulrich points out, the behavior goes against the notion that “Work Hard, Play Harder” would yield to “Work Hard, Work Harder” once camp opened.  It also contradicts the prediction of former Texas A&M teammate Mike Evans.

“In training camp, I don’t think he’ll go out at all,” Evans said in June.  “He’ll be committed and devoted and fighting for a starting job.”

The photo posted online at BustedCoverage.com shows nothing controversial or even all that interesting.  It’s a dude at a bar with a “crap, I think someone may be taking my picture with a camera phone” look on his face.

It’s only an issue because Manziel’s lifestyle and the team’s evolving reaction to it — from “we don’t care” to “tone it down” to “we’re alarmed” — creates a potential connection between Manziel’s actions away from the field and the Browns’ willingness to allow him to take the field in games that count.  Especially with most of the organization seemingly ready to drive Brian Hoyer down to Canton this weekend for inclusion in the new class of Hall of Famers.

AP

Bills practice was halted on Wednesday when some nasty weather rolled through the area, but some members of the organization were able to make good use of the unexpected free time.

They were able to put the finishing touches on the announcement of a one-year extension for running back Fred Jackson. Jackson was entering the final year of his contract, which is set to pay him a base salary $2.45 million. There were no financial details announced by the team.

Jackson’s role for the 2014 season is a bit unclear with Bryce Brown and Anthony Dixon joining Jackson and C.J. Spiller in the backfield. There’s been talk that the 33-year-old may be slated for a more limited role than he’s played in the past, but the extension suggests he’s still very much in the Bills’ plans now and in 2015.

Brown and Dixon are also signed through next season, but Spiller has a player option for 2015 that he’ll likely pass on exercising if things go well this year. Jackson’s extension could give the Bills more flexibility in dealing with any negotiations that may be coming with Spiller, especially if the Bills decide to follow recent trends and allocate less money at running back than at other positions.

AP

The Chiefs and quarterback Alex Smith apparently haven’t gotten anywhere on a new contract, and Smith said Wednesday there will come a point when they’ll stop trying.

“You’re getting to the point where either way, you want it to stop being a distraction,” Smith said, via Terez Paylor of the Kansas City Star. “You guys know how I feel about this, and it’s the truth. . . .

“You’re finally gonna cross a line where it’s like, it’s just football from here on out and I’m done not only talking about it with you guys, but even behind the scenes as well. “We talk about eliminating distractions and that’s a part of it. The focus needs to be on ball.”

He didn’t specify when that time would be, saying: “No, no hard line. At some point mentally it will come for me where it’s like ‘OK, it’s over’ and let’s just focus on the season.”

Perhaps he should adopt the Bugs Bunny strategy of negotiating, but for now, his talking about it is just a gentle reminder that he’s ready to talk.

AP

49ers linebacker Aldon Smith isn’t facing any charges from an April incident at Los Angeles International Airport, but he still had some housekeeping to take care of regarding the issue on Wednesday.

Bill Williamson of ESPN was the first to report that Smith is in Los Angeles instead of at practice on Wednesday to take part in a hearing that will officially close the case. Smith ran afoul of authorities at LAX when he made reference to having a bomb that he did not actually possess. Coach Jim Harbaugh confirmed Smith was absent, but wouldn’t confirm the reason.

“He’s going through a process,” Harbaugh said, via Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group.

Smith was recently sentenced to 12 days in jail on gun and DUI charges from a different incident, but has not yet heard anything about any discipline from the league for his walks on the wrong side of the law. Smith said last week that he expects to meet with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell soon for a discussion on that front.

Reuters

The 49ers have several guys they want to pay, one they won’t unless he shows up, and now they have a little more cap room.

According to Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com, linebacker Ahmad Brooks restructured his deal just before camp to save $2 million in salary cap space.

This was a simple restructure, as he took $3.395 million of his $5.1 million base salary as a bonus, allowing the team to prorate it.

That moved the 49ers to around $10 million under the cap.

Whether they intend to use any of it on holdout Alex Boone if he shows up, or whether they’re thinking about putting it toward bigger deals such as for pending 2015 free agents Michael Crabtree or Mike Iupati remains to be seen.

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Injuries are an unavoidable part of life in training camp, a truth that the Ravens were reminded of twice on the same play during Wednesday’s practice.

Rookie defensive end Brent Urban and rookie defensive tackle Timmy Jernigan were the unlucky members of the squad. Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun reports that it looks like Urban, a fourth-round pick, suffered the more serious blow.

Urban needed to be helped off the field by members of the training staff and was then carted back to the team’s facility for further evaluation. Per Wilson, Urban, who had ankle surgery in February, was unable to put weight on his right leg following the injury. Jernigan “appeared to be favoring his back” as he also made his way from the field before the end of practice.

Wilson also reports that linebackers Daryl Smith and Albert McClellan did not practice on Wednesday, although there’s no reason given for either man’s absence.

AP

The substance-abuse policy gives full power over any disciplinary appeals to the Commissioner or his designee.  When it comes to crafting a specific punishment, however, it’s unclear how much discretion the designated hearing officer has.

For players (like Browns receiver Josh Gordon) who are in Stage III of the substance-abuse program, a player who tests positive “will be banished from the NFL for a minimum of one calendar year.”

The language is clear.  “Will” doesn’t imply discretion or the ability to impose a suspension greater than zero games and fewer than 16.

Notwithstanding the apparently clear language of the policy, some league insiders believe the hearing officer can do whatever the hearing officer wants.  We’ve asked the league whether that’s accurate.

A negotiated resolution of less than 16 games is permitted.  The question is whether, absent a settlement, the hearing officer can conclude that Gordon violated the policy based on unique facts and a stringent threshold and suspend him for something less than 365 days.

Either way, the hearing officer’s decision is final, with only limited windows for challenging the suspension through the court system.

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Nearly a half-century after they last retired a jersey, the Steelers are taking another uniform number out of service.

The club will retire Joe Greene’s No. 75 jersey, the Steelers announced at a Wednesday press conference.

A Hall of Fame defensive tackle, Greene played on the Steelers’ first four Super Bowl-winning teams.

The Steelers haven’t retired a number since October 25, 1964, when officially took defensive lineman Ernie Stautner’s No. 70 out of service. Stautner, like Greene, is a Hall of Famer.

Steelers president Art Rooney II said Wednesday the organization had been reluctant “for a long time” about retiring more jerseys, given the franchise’s rich history and the number of players who might merit recognition.

“Look, we’ve been fortunate down through the years to have many players who could deserve to have their number retired,” Rooney said. “It really was a concern about ‘How many jerseys can you actually retire?'”

For now, though, the club has changed course, deciding to officially put No. 75 away for good.

As for other numbers the club may retire? The Steelers haven’t made those decisions yet.

“We came to the conclusion recently that look, we don’t have to make a decision on how many jerseys we retire,” Rooney said. “I think it’s the right thing to do to retire Joe’s number at this point, and we’ll make other decisions down the road as seems appropriate.”

AP

Now that the seal was broken by Patrick Peterson, maybe we’re about to see many more deals for 2011 first-rounders.

The Cowboys have announced they’ve reached a long-term extension with left tackle Tyron Smith.

Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network is calling it an eight-year, $98 million deal, which qualifies it as a mega-deal. With what he had left on his rookie deal, he’ll make nearly $110 million through 2023, per Todd Archer of ESPNDallas.com.

Of course, the details of this one will be telling, as always.

What’s clear is the Cowboys have made a priority in recent years of drafting to bolster their offensive line, and now that they have a quality one, they’re going to hang onto it.

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With linebacker Kiko Alonso lost for the 2014 season due to a torn ACL, Nigel Bradham has elevated to the top of the depth chart.  But someone other than Bradham will be playing weakside linebacker for the Bills against the Bears on September 7.

The NFL has announced that Bradham has been suspended for the first game of the 2014 regular season for violating the substance-abuse policy.

The suspension most likely arises from Bradham’s August 2013 arrest for marijuana possession, since a one-game suspension is the standard punishment for that offense.