- Dolphins LB Joey Porter declared Friday morning that the road to the AFC East title will come through Miami this year, and the Dolphins are the “champions until proven otherwise.” “I don’t understand how you can put somebody in front of us,” Porter said Friday morning. “We won the championship. We were AFC East champions. I just don’t think it’s supposed to happen like that. You’ve got to beat somebody to be the champs. We had to beat somebody to be the champs.”
- Bills CBs Terrence McGee (shoulder) and Leodis McKelvin (finger) were again limited in practice with both participating only during individual position work. At this point in the offseason Dick Jauron is erring on the side of caution. Whether either defensive back participates in team work is still a question mark. “I would say maybe,” said Jauron. “Maybe. We won’t take any chances at all. We have to talk to the doctors before we put them back out there.”
- The Eagles appear close to extending the contract of quarterback Donovan McNabb. The reworked deal would add two years to his contract, and give him a reported $19 million in guaranteed money. Philadelphia’s offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg believes McNabb still has gas left in the tank. “I think one day he’ll most likely be elected into the Hall of Fame,” Mornhinweg said. “Now, he’s got some more work to do to do that. But I think he has been and will play at a high level for quite some time.”
- Colts QB Peyton Manning isn’t entirely comfortable with all the changes the Colts are undergoing, but he is supportive of new coach Jim Caldwell. “I don’t totally understand it all, but I do know that Jim Caldwell has a plan, as he told me, kind of for the either-or scenario and that plan sounds good to me and I’ll be there to support him in whatever direction we go,” Manning said. “No matter how it all plays out, I feel we will be in a good situation, that Coach Caldwell will handle it, make the changes accordingly and then all I can do is focus on my job and try to be the best quarterback I can be.”
- Bears WR Brandon Rideau has gotten some reps with the first team offense during the team’s OTAs this summer. It seems unlikely that Rideau will have a major impact on the team this season, but apparently he is impressing some people at camp. He is by far the biggest of the Bears’ receivers at 6-3, so it is possible he could be used in some goal line situations.
- 49ers WR Michael Crabtree (foot surgery) shoud be ready to go at the start of training camp in late July. If healthy, Crabtree is expected to battle Josh Morgan for the starting role at receiver opposite veteran Isaac Bruce. Receiver was a top area of need for San Francisco, and it should not take Crabtree long to emerge as the top target in their aerial attack.
- 49ers QB Alex Smith took snaps with the first-team offense today, but 49ers coach Mike Singletary said it “doesn’t mean anything” – other than the coaches just want to make his competition against Shaun Hill as fair as possible. Hill had been taking the first-team snaps through the offseason program up to this point.
- Raiders QB JaMarcus Russell’s shaky offseason performances hatched speculation that Jeff Garcia could snatch the starter’s job. Not so, according to Cable. “Our decision’s made. JaMarcus is our quarterback,” Cable said. “There’s no issue there, no decisions to make there. What we have to do is get to camp and have that competition. This is a learning time. The competition will really get rolling when we get to Napa.”
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