Mike Westhoff, the Jets’ special-teams coach, has had his carefully researched list of free-agency targets ready to go for months. On Monday morning, he was staring at a roster on his office wall full of blank spots, and preparing to pick up the phone to start recruiting the players he wants the Jets to sign as soon as he is allowed. Across the country, some of the most prominent agents in the game were preparing to sleep in their offices, the better to manage the expected round-the-clock negotiations...
The NFL is back in business and the Philadelphia Eagles are winging their way to Lehigh for training camp. NFL players agreed to a new 10-year contract on Monday after owners approved a deal last week. For now, the Eagles' players will show up on Wednesday in Bethlehem, Pa., and go through a walkthrough practice on Thursday. Fans will probably see some players on the field on Friday, but it certainly won't be the entire team.
One issue is that the Eagles can't start signing rookies and draft picks...
The Bears had big issues on the offensive line last season, and even though Kreutz might not be quite the dominant force he once was, he remains one of the team's leaders. Heading into his 14th season, he's healthier than he was this time last year. And agent Mark Bartelstein made it clear he hopes to stay. Players put an end to the 4 {-month lockout when they OK'd the deal on Monday, days after the owners approved a tentative agreement, and turned the focus from the negotiating table to the field....
The Dallas Cowboys have some serious money issues. The team is $20 million over the salary cap limit, and they spend two times as much on their players than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who played better than the Cowboys last season. Something’s got to give. Jason Garrett is going to have the Dallas Cowboys on the practice field during training camp for nearly as much as the new rules allow. With a lost offseason to be made up for, and with the new coach still trying to implement a tougher work ethic...
With at least 92 dead and a suspect in custody, Norwegians trying to make sense of the bombing and shooting attacks here turned repeatedly Saturday to the one example that seemed to fit: the Oklahoma City bombing. Here, as there, a quick assumption that Muslims were at fault proved to be erroneous. Norwegians now know that a 32-year-old Christian, who railed against multiculturalism, is the principal and perhaps only suspect in the killings that occurred Friday in Oslo and at an island nearby....
