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Filed under: Cowboys, NFC East, NFL Injuries, NFL Training Camp

The Dallas Cowboys were the first team to open training camp. They were also the first to suffer a potentially significant injury.

Rookie wide receiver Dez Bryant went down with an ankle injury during practice Friday. There are reports Bryant may have a dreaded high ankle sprain, and he could be out up to six weeks, which would put into serious question his availability for the regular season opener.

That injury occurred late in practice, something that has Cowboys owner Jerry Jones singing the blues.

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Filed under: Lions

The NFL has suspended Detroit Lions President Tom Lewand for 30 days and fined him $100,000 as a result of his drunk driving arrest and subsequent guilty plea, as Commissioner Roger Goodell shows once again that he’s serious about holding all league employees to high standards in their personal conduct.

In this case, Goodell was even tougher on Lewand than he usually is on players: The DUI was Lewand’s first offense under the league’s personal-conduct policy, and NFL players typically aren’t disciplined for first DUI offenses.

“You occupy a special position of responsibility and trust, and – as you have publicly acknowledged – your conduct must be consistent with someone in that position,” Goodell told Lewand in a letter that has been released publicly.

Lewand released a statement of his own saying, “I remain committed to accepting all of the consequences of my actions, including those in the commissioner’s decision. I am deeply grateful for the support I have received.”

Lewand’s suspension will run from Aug. 25 to Sept. 24, which means he won’t be involved in the end of the preseason, the formulation of the final 53-man regular season roster, and the first couple weeks of the regular season. That’s an important part of the year for a team president to miss, and that makes this a significant suspension.

And it’s a suspension that Goodell was right to hand down. Goodell has built his reputation on getting tough with NFL players, and team executives need to know that he’ll hold them accountable as well.

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Filed under: Rams, NFC West, NFL Quarterbacks

On a day filled with draft picks agreeing to terms on their rookie contracts, the NFL Draft’s top selection has his big payday.

St. Louis Rams‘ quarterback Sam Bradford has agreed to terms on a six-year contract that avoids a holdout. The deal has been reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

The contract, according to the report, includes $50 million in guaranteed money, and could be worth up to $86 million.

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Filed under: Broncos, NFL Training Camp

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — On his first day at training camp with the Denver Broncos on Friday, quarterback Tim Tebow displayed his linebacker’s mentality.

“It may be a negative of mine, but I look forward to that,” Tebow said of upcoming contact drills during the team’s first full-squad workout. “It’ll be fun when Sunday gets here and everybody is hitting out here. I’ll get excited, too.”

Tebow probably won’t be doing much hitting and his teammates won’t be hitting him — NFL teams apply practice protections for their quarterbacks to guard against injury. Nonetheless, head coach Josh McDaniels appreciated Tebow’s sentiments.

“That doesn’t surprise me, that he would say that,” McDaniels said. “That’s part of his demeanor and also part of what he brings to your football team.

“That may be a little unique in terms of the contact part. Normally, quarterbacks add to a certain level of the toughness of your team because they get hit a lot. He’s had an opportunity in college to do some of the other stuff where he’s actually inflicting some of the hitting at the end of a run.”

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Filed under: Texans

HOUSTON — The Houston Texans start the year once again as the young team with a lot of promise and a lot of questions.

Despite fielding the youngest starting offense and defense in the league in 2009, they finally finished with a winning record for the first time in their franchise’s history at 9-7, barely missing the playoffs. Their quarterback, Matt Schaub played all 16 games and finished first in the NFL with 4,770 passing yards and the team was 4th in the league in total offense.

They have many returning starters on both sides of the ball, and believe that chemistry, not big name-free agents, is what is going to get them to the playoffs.

The questions begin with the running game, where the Texans will need to fix their near the bottom-of-the-league rushing attack. The Texans are wondering what their secondary will look like with rookie Kareem Jackson starting at corner. They are praying that the season doesn’t end before it starts with the drug-policy suspension of playmaking linebacker Brian Cushing for the first four games of the season. And they are hoping that Cushing, when he does get back, will still perform like the player who won the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year award last year.

How the Texans will react to what appears to be a much harder schedule also remains to be seen.

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Filed under: Saints, NFL Training Camp

METARIE, La. — Drew Brees was asked to name the coolest thing that happened to him in the offseason as reigning Super Bowl MVP. C’mon, just one thing.

Brees, though, doesn’t often speak in mini-soundbites.

“I’ll give you a top five,” he said.

1) Flying with the F-16 Thunderbirds.

2) Joining the USO to visit troops in Dubai, Turkey and Djibouti.

3) Playing golf with Jack Nicklaus.

4) Rubbing elbows with all the stars while representing his team at the ESPY’s.

5) The post-Super Bowl XLVI celebration, from Disney World to David Letterman to being King of Bacchus at Mardi Gras.

Other than that, Brees said his life has pretty much gone on the same.

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Filed under: Saints

NEW ORLEANS — Faced with the unique (and next-to-impossible) task of trying to defend a Super Bowl title, New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton sought council during the offseason from others who have been in the enviable (and pressure-packed) situation. Payton, though, has declined to say who some of those individuals were.

But we know one, for sure.

Payton was a quarterbacks coach at Illinois when Jon Gruden, then offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles, came calling to hire him. Somehow, Payton squeezed respectable numbers from the Philly three-headed monster of Ty Detmer, Bobby Hoying and Rodney Peete, and off his career went — to the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys as offensive coordinator, and eventually to the Saints in 2006 as a head coach.

It was Gruden, now the red-hot color analyst for “Monday Night Football,” who came to Saints training camp last summer and promptly announced Payton’s team as a bona fide Super Bowl contender. It was Gruden who addressed the Saints in advance of their divisional round playoff game against Arizona in January. And it’s Gruden — and his good karma — who joined Payton and his players this weekend as part of his training tour to preview teams.

Gruden won a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay following the 2002 season. The Buccaneers returned virtually intact in ‘03, only to go 7-9 and miss the playoffs. The franchise had never won a title before, either, so the euphoria was all new. They had injuries on offense. When the losses piled up there was a high-profile clash between Gruden and Keyshawn Johnson. Those Bucs became a “Don’t Let This Happen To You” poster for defending your championship.

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Filed under: Packers, NFC North, Sports Business and Media

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell went to Green Bay for a question-and-answer session with Packers fans Thursday and was asked whether Lambeau Field could become the second outdoor, cold-weather stadium to host a Super Bowl, after the new Giants/Jets stadium in New Jersey becomes the first.

Goodell said he’d love to see a Super Bowl at Lambeau Field, and he has no problem with a Super Bowl being played in the snow. But while the Frozen Tundra would be great for the game itself, it wouldn’t work because Green Bay just isn’t big enough for the big game.

“It’s not about weather as much as it is infrastructure,” Goodell said. “You need 25,000 hotel rooms within 60 miles. It’s an extraordinary undertaking.”

And considering that Green Bay has only 3,000 hotel rooms, there’s no chance of it happening. Even a setup that featured most of the media and entertainment activities the week before the Super Bowl taking place in Milwaukee wouldn’t be feasible for how big an event the Super Bowl has become.

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Filed under: NFL Training Camp

As expected, Oakland’s signing of Rolando McClain on Thursday started the first-round dominoes falling, as teams scrambled to get their top picks signed for the start of their respective training camps.

Four of the five offensive lineman selected in April’s draft signed Friday, highlighted by fourth overall selection Trent Williams, who became the highest pick to put his name on an NFL contract

Here’s a closer look at the day of deals:

o. The Redskins and Williams agreed to a six-year, $60 million contract. Williams, whose contract includes $36.75 in guaranteed money, was in uniform for Friday’s practice, which bodes well for the Redskins, who expect the 6-4, 315-pound former Oklahoma All-American to start at left tackle right away.

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Filed under: Sports Business and Media

Only in television, it seems, can a person make a series of colossal blunders, the collection of which severely damages a network/channel’s reputation, and either get to keep his job or — even worse — get the opportunity to wreak havoc on another outlet.

Step right up, Mark Shapiro.

Having set ESPN on course to ruin with one ill-fated programming move after another, Shapiro is being brought on to the NFL Network as a consultant by his mentor, NFL Network president and CEO Steve Bornstein, who once ran things at the Worldwide Leader.

Think I’m overstating the case? The following is a list of programs or initiatives Shapiro shepherded while he was in charge of programming at ESPN from 2002 to 2005:

“ESPN Hollywood,” “Dream Job,” “I’d Do Anything,” “Beg, Borrow and Deal,” “Mohr Sports,” “Playmakers,” “Tilt,” “3″ and “The Junction Boys.”

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