Steelers OLB Woodley is upset about contract talks

The Pittsburgh Steelers have not made any obvious posture on whether they are going to offer a contract extension to their Pro Bowl offensive linebacker LaMarr Woodley. By so far, they have only offered him a one-year restricted free agent tender, which will pay the fourth-year veteran $550,000 in base salary this season, no wonder Woodley said it more than once that he’d like to try his chance of putting on Saints jersey to play for another Super Bowl winning team.

"It’s kind of jacked up," Woodley told Yahoo! Sports. "Everything I’ve ever done for the Steelers, on and off the field, has been positive. Sometimes you don’t get the same thing back in return. I’m not going to lie—I was a little disappointed that they didn’t offer anything at all. I felt that was a little weird. I guess they decided they’re going to sit back and wait for the CBA and all that to play out.”

Woodley finished last season with 13.5 sacks, six passes defended, one force fumble, one fumble recovery and one touchdown, and was previously confident that he would get a good contract extension for the new season. But the team’s hesitance disappointed him. Perhaps the Steelers should learn how the Vikings treat their starting quarterback in Favre jersey to retain their cornerstone players.

Browns rookie safety Asante received four-year contract

The Cleveland Browns just signed rookie safety Larry Asante to a standard four-year contract on Wednesday night. In order to earn more than the $1.96 million contract salary, Asante will have to work hard to compete for playing time in the Browns’ secondary. It won’t be a big problem to the fifth-round draft pick, who was starters at Nebraska.

During his college football career, Asante started totally 36 games. However, he did not attract much attention from his favorite team New Orleans Saints during the three-day NFL 2010 Draft. He was finally drafted by the lowly ranked team Browns in fifth round. Instead of regretting for missing the chance to put on Saints jersey, Asante is now looking forward to his rookie season and expects to improve the Brown’s defense as much as he can.

By signing his first NFL career contract, Asante got paid $170,000 as signing bonus. Incentives for earning more than base salary have not been released. But quite a few Browns officials are optimistic that it won’t take long for Asante to grab the starting job.

Rookie WR Edwards received multi-year contract from Panthers

The Carolina Panthers confirmed the value of rookie wide receiver Armanti Edwards by signing him to a three-year contract on Thursday, three months after they drafted the former Appalachian State star college player with a 89th overall pick. During the three months of observation, they got a great impression of the rookie’s versatility.

Aiming at putting on his favorite Saints jersey to join the champion team, Edwards worked hard at college to be an excellent quarterback. During his college football career, Edwards totally completed 768 of 1,180 passes for 10,392 yards and 74 touchdowns with 33 interceptions and rushed for 4,361 yards and 65 touchdowns on 755 carries, becoming the first player in NCAA Division I history to pass for more than 10,000 yards and rush for more than 4,000 yards. However, the Saints did not show much favor in Edwards and let the Panthers get him in the middle of second round.

Despite Edwards’ great performance as a college quarterback, the Panthers decided to convert him into a wide receiver, so Edwards’ main job during offseason workouts was to learn catching balls. They seemed to be satisfied with the rookie’s smooth switch and is now planning to try him as a punt returner on special-teams in training camp.

QB Russell’s career is threatened by his off-field trouble

The former Oakland Raiders starting quarterback JaMarcus Russell recently added some more obstacles to his NFL future by getting arrested for possession of codeine. The former first overall draft pick had been already devaluated after being cut by the Raiders but still had chance to negotiate with some weak teams interested in his talents. However, the recent legal trouble just caused all teams to shy away.

According to recent reports, Russell attracted more concerns on his incompetence as a quarterback. Previously, there were still reports saying that he could have chance to put on Saints jersey if he was willing to play as backup to Drew Brees. But now the Saints definitely have crossed his name off from the list of their options in backup quarterback. Nevertheless, it does not necessarily mean the end of Russell’s football career.

Russell could follow the example of former Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams, who also had drug issues but found refuge by joining a Canadian Football League. And it was reported that Russell has already attracted attention from a CFL team, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who like to add Russell so that they could draw more attention and fans.

Holy Cross OL Aaron Jones got invitation from Saints

Hearing nothing from any of the 32 NFL teams by the end of the three-day 2010 NFL draft, former Holy Cross defensive lineman Aaron Rodgers disappointedly thought he was completely a loser of the draft. However, two weeks later, he finally received a call from the best team of last season, the New Orleans Saints.

Graduating from South High School in 2006, Jones had been selected to All-Patriot League for twice while playing with the Crusaders. He also managed to earn second team honors in 2009 and first team honors in 2008. With is help, the Crusaders had leading record of score in the Patriots League with 34.4 points per game, 455.4 total yards on offense per game and 348.9 passing yards on offense per game. Attending both Pro Days at the University of Massachusetts and Boston College, he might have impressed some Saints coach in one of them.

Jones has been excited for being able to put on Saints jersey after a short while of surprise. Although a tryout chance is still far away from a real roster spot with the defending champion team, he made it clear that the chance itself is worth waiting and he will try his best to earn a real Saints jersey.

Saints did not make bad choices in draft

Two days passed since the end of 2010 NFL draft and analysts begin to give out their opinions on teams’ different choices in the draft. As for the defending champions New Orleans Saints, who held late round picks with limited choice when it was their turn to pick, most professional analysts think that they did not make bad choices.

Best of all the choices made by the Saints was the selection of second-round pick Charles Brown, offensive tackle from the USC. He had been already a great player during college years and has potential to be a better one in the professional NFL. With great feet that are needed on offensive line, the young player is expected to compete for some playing time in his rookie season.

However, most people still doubt what the Saints were thinking about while making their first choice in the draft. Cornerback Patrick Robinson is great at doing his job and has the advantage of quick feet, but the addition of a new cornerback is just not considered to be necessary for the Saints. Some people point out that there is possibility for the team to move last year’s first-round pick, cornerback Malcolm Jenkins to free safety. There are also doubts that Saints picked a cornerback in first round again because free agent cornerback Darren Sharper could not wear back his Saints jersey.

Except for picking Robinson, Saints’ other choices all seem good and could offer necessary help. Taking center Matt Tennant as example, the 6-5, 300-pound young man had three-year experience of being a starter during his college football career in Boston and there is good chance for him to obtain the starting job again in the NFL within a couple of years. So generally speaking, the Saints have made the most use of the draft picks they had during the draft and the team will be better in the new season.

TE Graham became the first UM player to be drafted

By the end of the first-round draft on Thursday night, none of the 12 eligible players from the University of Miami got drafted by any team. Even by the start of Friday night’s second-round draft, the twelve were still waiting. Eventually, near the end of third-round draft, which was also held on Friday night, one of them got a call from the Super Bowl XLIV champions New Orleans Saints.

Tight end Jimmy Graham was the lucky first. The young man with a height of 6-7 and weight of 280 pounds was the 95th overall pick in the third round and had been previously believed to be the first drafted Hurricanes player. There were only two other Hurricanes were expected to have equal chance- linebacker Darryl Sharpton and offensive tackle Jason Fox are likely to be drafted in early fourth and fifth rounds on Saturday night.

Being a huge Saints fan himself, Graham felt great honor for having the chance to put on his beloved Saints jersey as a real Saints player. Previously a college basketball player, Graham changed his career to football in his senior year and proved his talent on field soon with 17 catches for 213 yards and five touchdowns. The rookie is also feeling great for being able to play with Jeremy Shockey, who also played college football in UM before entering the professional NFL.