The Denver Broncos have agreed to terms with offensive tackle Ryan Clady, the team’s first-round pick in the 2008 draft.

According to Adam Schefter of NFL Network, Clady signed a five-year deal worth $17.5 million, with $11.5 million in guaranteed money.

Clady was the 12th overall selection.

As the not-so-dynamic duo at PFTV continues the division-by-division preview of the eight NFL divisions, let’s take a look-see at the AFC North.

Here it is.

A reader has forwarded to us an intriguing story from Rivals.com regarding a new offense that has been developed on the high school level.

It’s called the A-11, and it’s designed to spread the field by making the defense believe that literally any of the players can end up with the ball in their hands.

The attack is the product of the brain of Kurt Bryan, the coach at Piedmont (Calif.) High School. 

The base formation involves a center flanked by two tight ends, with three receivers to the right and three to the left.  And two quarterbacks in the backfield.  (Jon Gruden likes it already.)

“Going into the [2007] season, we thought that either we’re going to get fired or we’re going to transform the game because of the innovative aspects and the wealth of ideas,” Bryan said.  “Luckily, it turned out to be the latter.”

Though we’re having trouble imagining the thing working in pro football, we can see some of the college teams giving it a try, possibly as a change-of-pace attack aimed at creating confusion and speed-based mismatches.

There’s a web site devoted to the offense, and a quick review of it addressed some of our basic questions and concerns.  Meanwhile, we’re going to try to figure out whether the formation could be used at the NFL level without violating any of the applicable rules.

Broncos receiver Rod Smith, one of the last remaining links to the team’s Super Bowl-winning seasons and arguably the greatest undrafted free agent receiver to ever play the game, formally retired on Thursday.

“I gave them everything I had,” Smith said during the emotional press conference.

Smith spent twelve years with the Broncos, last playing in 2006.  He finishes his career with 849 receptions for 11,389 yards and 85 touchdowns.

In 1995, Smith made an immediate impression on first-year coach Mike Shanahan, who was struck by Smith’s ability to compete at the NFL level.  “You keep looking and saying, ‘Why can’t they cover this guy?”‘ Shanahan said.  “Then you say, ‘Holy cow, I’ve got myself a football player.’”

Smith’s case is further proof that, in the end, all those hours of watching film and viewing practice and clicking stopwatches don’t matter.  The only way to know how college players will perform at the next level is to put them there, and to see who sinks — and who swims.

Smith swam, incredibly well.  The Broncos and the sport will miss him.

The last time the Chiefs used a top-ten pick on a defensive tackle, the contract impasse lasted into the regular season.

This time around, it likely will last at least until the guy drafted after Glenn Dorsey signs a contract. 

For now, the team opted to suspend talks because agent Joel Segal wants to wait for more picks to sign before doing a deal.

“Our comment to Glenn Dorsey’s agent was:  Look it, since you don’t want to negotiate, we’re going to go to camp and get started,” G.M. Carl Peterson said.  ”When you want to negotiate, you know how to reach us, so give me a phone call.”

When it comes to negotiating first-round contracts, Segal’s reputation is to wait for the player drafted in front of and behind his client to agree to terms.  Segal then does a deal that falls between the two packages.

The practice flows (in our opinion) from a combination of laziness and fear.  A slotted deal is easy to do when a ceiling and a floor have been established.  Besides, an agent who negotiates a contract before the next player signs risks being leapfrogged.

In this case, Jets linebacker Vernon Gholston is the next player behind Dorsey.  In fairness, then, Gholston’s agent, Ben Dogra, should get a commission not only from his client but also from Dorsey, since Dogra’s work will make it easier (and safer) for Segal to proceed. 

The Buffalo Bills have announced that the team has agreed to terms with receiver James Hardy, the team’s second-round selection in the 2008 draft.

All Bills rookies are now under contract, with the exception of first-round corner Leodis McKelvin.

Hardy, a standout at Indiana, has had a history of off-field problems, and it’ll be interesting to see whether he can stay out of trouble in Buffalo.  And whether he can take advantage of all the attention that gets paid to Lee Evans.

As more and more veteran NFL players realize that the system for awarding huge windfalls to a handful of unproven rookies must change, leadership of the NFL Players Association continues to be out of touch with its constituents.

In an item posted today on the union’s web site, the case is made against change.  But the case that’s made makes no sense, because the union continues to gloss over the real problem.

This isn’t about all rookies.  Surely, Devin Hester doesn’t believe his rookie deal left him overpaid or even fairly compensated.  Rather, it’s about those 10-15 rookies each year who receive enormous amounts of money based solely on potential.

Some earn their keep, some don’t.  The ones who suck end up sucking salary-cap money out of the system.

And the extra money paid to rookies who never earn it is money that could be diverted to veterans who deserve it.

The danger for the folks who run the union is that, at a time when players are less fearful than ever to challenge the powers-that-be at the NFLPA, this issue can become the issue that assumes a life of its own, and that topples the current leadership structure.

The problem is that Gene Upshaw and company have dug their heels in so deeply that all they can now do is continue to dig. 

Though we’ve heard that Redskins receiver Devin Thomas is expected to miss only a couple of days with a mild hamstring strain, coach Jim Zorn said that the rookie second-rounder from Michigan State will be gone for as long as two weeks.

Such an absence would cause Thomas to miss the season-opening Hall of Fame game on August 3 against the Colts.

Thomas suffered the injury while running along the sideline, chasing a deep pass.

“My leg locked up on me like a cramp,” Thomas said, according to Redskins.com.  “I couldn’t really put any pressure on it.  I went inside to relax it and it feels a lot better.”

Though Cardinals receiver Anquan Boldin won’t be holding out or demanding a trade, the veteran wideout has made it clear that, once he’s eligible for free agency, he’s gone.

In fact, Boldin has ordered agent Drew Rosenhaus not to negotiate with the team.

“After last year, I was promised a deal would get done before this season,” Boldin said.  “But the season is here and obviously that hasn’t happened.  I don’t want a deal.  People may think I’m being funny, or just saying that to say that.  But I’m just tired of it.  I’m washing my hands of the whole situation.”

Boldin is signed through 2010.  As that date approaches, our guess is that the Cardinals will get plenty of offers for a trade.

Complicating matters is that the ridiculous rookie contract that the Cardinals gave to Larry Fitzgerald required the team to replace it with a four-year, $40 million deal.  Fitzgerald isn’t a noticeably better player than Boldin, but the team can’t afford to tie up $18 million to $20 million per year on two receivers.

Though Boldin says that Fitzgerald’s deal has nothing to do with Boldin’s current stance, we don’t buy it.

As it turns out, Eagles guard Shawn Andrews isn’t present for practice.  And his absence isn’t excused.

So even though we reported that he might not be present, we’re apparently idiots for suggesting that the absence might be related to his contract.

Andrews’ agent Rich Moran says that the absence is unrelated to Andrews’ contract, and since agents never lie the Philadelphia Daily News is accepting Moran’s position as gospel.

The team’s position is that Andrews isn’t present for personal reasons, but the team opted not to excuse the absence.

So what in the hell is it?  Turkey binge?  Star Trek convention?  Goldfish attack?

Whatever it is, it had better be better than the $15,000-plus in fines per day that Andrews will potentially lose until he shows.

Then there’s the chance that it really is a holdout due to Andrews’ displeasure with his contract, and that the team asked Moran to keep that on the down low so that the virus doesn’t spread to guys like Brian Westbrook or other players who signed long-term deals at a time when the overall market was a lot lower. 

But, wait.  We forgot.  Agents never lie.  Teams don’t, either.

Just when it appeared that the Chargers and first-round cornerback Antoine Cason were digging in for the long haul, the two sides have worked out a deal.

As Adam Schefter of NFL Network reports, it’s a five-year, $12.1 million deal for the 27th overall pick in the draft.

Recently, Chargers G.M. A.J. Smith said that the pending offer to Cason was final.  It’s unknown whether that’s the offer that Cason accepted, or whether the Chargers sweetened the pot.

Meanwhile, PFTV looks at the issue of first-round holdouts in 2008.  And when Brocato asked yours truly to predict which guy could stay away the longest, yours truly swung and missed.  Big time.

Eagles running back Brian Westbrook wants a new contract, and he says he considered a holdout.  In the end, however, he opted to report for the start of Eagles training camp, which commences with a 7:00 p.m. team meeting on Thursday night.

He says that he wanted to give his new agent, Todd France, a chance to work out a new deal with the team.  Westbrook also suggested that he might leave camp at some point if a deal isn’t done.

The veteran running back, despite being 29 years of age, supposedly wants $30 million over the next three years.

So do we, Brian.  And our chances of actually getting it are precisely the same as yours.

The New England Patriots have opened training camp with a whopping 12 players on the physically unable to perform list.

The dozen players who can’t yet play are:  DL Jarvis Green, RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis, S Rodney Harrison, DB Ellis Hobbs, T Nick Kaczur, G Stephen Neal, T Oliver Ross, LB Bo Ruud, LB Mike Vrabel, WR Wes Welker, C Ryan Wendell, and DL Mike Wright.

Also, Tom Brady is probable for practice with a shoulder injury.

A league source tells us that the anticipated Friday showdown between the Raiders and running back LaMont Jordan won’t happen.

Instead, we’re told that the Raiders will release or trade Jordan in the very near future.

If he’s released (and our money is on that one), he’ll join the crowd of unemployed veteran tailbacks.  So, instead of Hard Knocks with the Dallas Cowboys, we think HBO should throw Jordan and Shaun Alexander and Cedric Benson and Najeh Davenport and any other veteran running back we’re overlooking into the same house, with one phone, one bathroom, one hamper, and a lot of cameras.

The bad news for Caleb Campbell is that he won’t be permitted to play for the Lions in lieu of fulfilling his active-duty commitment to the Army, as a result of his free four-year college education.

The good news (for Campbell, and not for the guy who’ll take his place on the front lines) is that Campbell will be staying in the U.S., coaching football at West Point.

Said Campbell on Sporting News Radio’s The Monty Show:  “Before the draft, I was picked to be one of the players to stick around West Point and to help the coaches coach the football team, and just help out with the team.  I actually am headed back to New York to start that job, so when they start training camp up at West Point, I’ll be helping out there, I’ll be coaching this season.”

Campbell still hopes to play pro football.  “I really think I will be able to one day,” he said.  “They said maybe in 2010, I’ll have the opportunity to try out for another team, and I know the Lions are there and they’d give me the opportunity, and I know that I’ll be ready for that opportunity.  Whenever they say that I do have do have a chance one day, I’m going to take it, I’m going to run with it, and we’ll see what happens.”

The San Francsico 49ers have announced that defensive tackle Kentwan Balmer, the team’s first-round pick in the 2008 draft, has agreed to terms.

Balmer, who played college football at North Carolina, was the 29th overall selection in the draft. 

The Niners had sent their own 2008 first-rounder to the Pats as part of a 2007 draft-day trade.  A trade with the Colts had given San Fran the spot that would have been held by Indianapolis in the first round this year.

At the start of the off-season the Lions shipped defensive tackle Shaun Rogers to the Browns in exchange for cornerback Leigh Bodden and a third-round draft pick. Now the Lions have ensured that the 26-year-old Bodden will play the prime years of his career in Detroit.

Adam Schefter of NFL Network reports that the Lions have reached an agreement with Bodden on a four-year, $27 million contract extension.

Bodden has two years left on his current contract at base salaries of $1.7 million in 2008 and $1.8 million in 2009. But the Lions have given him a hefty raise in order to keep him around and keep him happy.

Per Schefter, Bodden will receive a $2 million signing bonus immediately and an option bonus of $8.6 million at the beginning of March. The option bonus is not guaranteed, meaning if Bodden has a bad year, the team could cut him loose and let him become an unrestricted free agent on the first day of the 2009 league year.

If the Lions do exercise the option bonus, Bodden will be under contract through the 2013 season.

Packers president Mark Murphy announced moments ago at a press conference held in conjunction with the team’s annual shareholders meeting that plans to retire Brett Favre’s jersey are now on hold.

Earlier this year, the team had announced that Favre’s No. 4 would be retired on the first game of the regular season, on the evening of September 8 against the Vikings.

This development could mean several things.  Maybe the Packers now think Favre will be playing for them on September 8.  Or maybe he’ll be playing elsewhere, and they now want to wait for him to finish his career.  Or maybe he’ll be wearing a white-and-purple jersey during said September 8 game.

Or maybe the Packers are just pissed off at him for creating such a mess and they’re going to wait a few years before setting aside his number.  It’s not like they’re going to issue it to someone else in the interim.

A league source tells us that there are rumblings that Eagles guard Shawn Andrews might not show up for training camp, apparently due to displeasure with his contract.

 Andrews is another one of the young Eagles players who signed an early-career contract that extends into the next decade.  In Andrews’ case, he’s signed through 2015.

The first-round pick in the 2004 draft is due to earn a base salary of $2.98 million in 2008.  And if he thinks that’s too low, he’ll be really pissed off in 2009, when his base salary drops to $750,000.

If he doesn’t report, he’ll be subject to fines of more than $15,000 per day, and he could be required to pay back a portion of the bonus money.

As Packers General Manager Ted Thompson awkwardly attempts to keep the fans happy while keeping the franchise’s most popular player away, he had a rough go of it today at the team’s shareholders’ meeting.

Multiple reports indicate that the majority of the thousands of shareholders who showed up today in Green Bay were anti-Thompson and pro-Brett Favre.

The Green Bay Press Gazette reports that Thompson was greeted by a number of fans shouting, “Bring Brett back.” And a PFT reader who attended the meeting estimated that three-fourths of those in attendance were booing Thompson.

For his part, Thompson tried to stay positive and look forward, not backward.

“We are family here, but family sometime disagree.  But we’ll always be family,” he said. ” We’re very excited about this team coming forward.”

Adam Schefter of NFL Network reports that the Detroit Lions have agreed to terms with offensive lineman Gosder Cherilus, the team’s first-round pick in the 2008 draft.

Cherilus reportedly inked a five-year deal.

He faces a review under the Personal Conduct Policy of his involvement in a brawl at a bar.  He recently was placed on a year of pre-trial probation and ordered to pay restitution to a man who allegedly was injured while Cherilus and Chargers defensive back DeJuan Tribble were allegedly breaking up a fight.

And, so, the Lions might want to just go ahead and pay a chunk of the signing bonus directly to the league; that’s where it’s likely going to end up, eventually.

Former Vikings defensive end Darrion Scott will be sentenced on Thursday afternoon on a guilty plea to child endangerment.

Scott admitted to placing a plastic bag over his two-year-old son’s head.  He then offered up a piss-poor explanation for why he did what he did.

Scott is a free agent.  It might be the only thing “free” about him after today.

Injuries continue to attack the Redskins as most teams are just beginning to settle into their respective training camps.

After losing defensive ends Phillip Daniels and Alex Buzbee for the season on the first day of training camp a few days ago, forcing the team to trade for Jason Taylor, the Skins watched their first pick, receiver Devin Thomas, get carted off the field today because of an apparent hamstring injury.

“There was nothing I could say,” first-year head coach Jim Zorn said. “Here we go again.”

Washington traded down from the 21st overall spot in this year’s draft and made Thomas their guy with the 34th pick. He was the second receiver taken in the draft, one spot behind the Rams’ Donnie Avery.

Thomas was running down the sideline after a Jason Campbell pass when he hit the ground. A timetable for his return hasn’t been given, but the team doesn’t expect it to be serious. Still, any hamstring injury for a receiver can be a tricky proposition, especially when you’re counting on a rookie to be on the field for valuable practice time.

Kansas City Chiefs President Carl Peterson said this morning that the club has agreed to terms on a five-year contract with rookie offensive lineman Branden Albert, the team’s second first-round draft pick.

No financial details were disclosed.

Albert is the 10th of the Chiefs’ 12 draft picks to sign with the team. Fifth overall pick Glenn Dorsey has still not signed, making Dorsey the highest-drafted player in the 2008 class not to reach a deal yet.

Seventh-round pick Michael Merritt has also not signed with the Chiefs. Seventh-round picks usually sign quickly, and it’s not clear what the hold-up is on Merritt’s deal.

West Point graduate and Detroit Lions seventh-round draft pick Caleb Campbell learned yesterday that he will have to put his football career on hold while he fulfills his military service obligation. And while Campbell isn’t complaining, he does seem to think the Department of Defense could have been more straight with him.

In an interview with Deadspin’s Clay Travis (Yes, Buzz Bissinger, Deadspin can do actual reporting), Campbell said that even though the Department of Defense apparently decided to change its policy on July 8, no one bothered to tell him until July 23, after he had made the trip to Detroit to start training camp.

Campbell was at West Point last week and his superiors presumably had ample opportunity to tell him if any changes were coming, but Campbell said the Department of Defense decision-makers “left me in the complete dark. No one said a thing to me on campus last week about anything changing. Nothing.”

Campbell doesn’t know what the future holds for him, but he thinks he will be assigned to be a graduate assistant with either the Army football team or the West Point Prep School football team this fall. After that it could be Iraq or Afghanistan.

We got a tip last night that veteran quarterback Jared Lorenzen had joined the Colts.  We regret to inform PFT Planet that were wrong.

He won’t officially sign until today.

Per Adam Schefter of NFL Network, Lorenzen will become the latest member of the Colts’ quarterback rotation, and he’ll drive the average weight of the team’s quarterbacks up by 15 pounds or so.

We reported last night that the Colts also have signed Quinn Gray.  So that’s not one but two veteran quarterbacks in camp.

The fact that the Indianapolis Star is silent on both of these acquisitions makes us even more suspicious of the team’s position that starter Peyton Manning will miss only four-to-six weeks after surgery to remove an infected bursa sac from his knee.  (Instead, the Colts page on the Star web site is touting that Dwight Freeney will be ready to play when the season opens, and that Marvin Harrison will be ready to participate in training camp.) 

Though it doesn’t mean that either Lorenzen or Gray will supplant Jim Sorgi as the potential replacement for Manning, our guess is that the Colts are trying to push Sorgi in order to get him ready to play if the Colts end up christening their new stadium on September 7 without Manning under center for the first time since 1997.

Last week, we heard an unconfirmed rumor that the Packers were confident of their tampering case against the Vikings because they had eyeballed the records of a cell phone the team had issued to Brett Favre and had seen that Favre had had conversations with Vikings offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and head coach Brad Childress.  (We didn’t mention this at the time, but the Packers apparently discerned Childress’s number via league-wide directories that are available to every team.)

Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported earlier this week that, indeed, Favre had been using a team-issued cell phone, and that the records showed contact with Childress and Bevell.  We promptly pointed out that a team-issued cell phone would create a salary cap violation, unless the value of the phone were included in the player’s reported salary.

And it’s not a violation of the cap rules only if the unreported value of the cell phone would have pushed the Packers over the spending limit.  If any money or thing of value is given to a player and not disclosed, the cap rules have been broken.

So it’s no surprise that the Green Bay Press-Gazette is reporting now that Favre wasn’t using a team-issued cell phone, that he was never issued a cell phone by the team, and that no Packers player has a team-issued cell phone.  Frankly, we believe that the Packers are scrambling to avoid a finding that they violated the cap rules.

Our guess is that the Packers had seen the cell records but were smart enough not to disclose to the league the precise basis for their firm belief that the Vikings had tampered with Favre, since the Packers likely concluded that the league would learn via its own investigation of the cell records of Childress and Bevell that the calls had occurred.  Thus, the Packers avoided blowing the whistle on themselves regarding a potential cap violation.

If our suspicisions are correct, we don’t fault the Press-Gazette for being duped.  But, then again, the Press-Gazette doesn’t give proper credence to McGinn’s report.  Though we don’t mind being accused of exaggerating and/or making stuff up, McGinn is a respected journalist who surely wouldn’t have made the assertion if he wasn’t appropriately sure it was accurate.

Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall’s repeated legal troubles have gotten him a meeting with the commissioner.

The Denver Post is reporting that Marshall met with Roger Goodell for two and a half hours last week, and that Goodell will announce next week whether and for how long Marshall will be suspended for violations of the league’s personal-conduct policy.

The meeting included not just Marshall and Goodell, but also Marshall’s lawyer, Harvey Steinberg, and longtime Broncos receiver Rod Smith. It’s not clear what role Smith played in the meeting, but it’s certainly safe to say that Goodell wishes Marshall would conduct himself the way Smith always did — as a professional on and off the field. Smith is expected to formally retire today.

(UPDATE: A reader pointed out that Smith pleaded guilty to verbal harassment in 2000, and was sentenced to anger-management counseling sessions. He has spoken publicly about how counseling helped him.)

Marshall has not been convicted of a crime since he was drafted in April of 2006, but he has been arrested multiple times, and when Goodell announced his new personal-conduct policy, he said, “It’s not enough to simply avoid being found guilty of a crime.” So league discipline is a near certainty; the only issue is whether Marshall was able to convince Goodell to be lenient.

The Bills are still working on contracts for first-round pick Leodis McKelvin, second-round pick James Hardy and third-round pick Chris Ellis.

The Dolphins plan to “sprinkle” RB Ronnie Brown back into the lineup.  [Editor’s note:  The Fins also hope that Ricky Williams doesn’t “roll” any of his “joints” on the practice field.  Or anywhere else.]

A look at the big issues facing the Patriots.

The Jets are opening their final training camp at Hofstra.

Cowboys RB Felix Jones went back to his old high school to work with the players.

Giants WR David Tyree is not recovering as quickly as hoped from April knee surgery.

Eagles coach Andy Reid knows what he wants in a fullback but doesn’t know who his fullback will be.

Redskins C Casey Rabach doesn’t make offensive line meetings sound pleasant.

Ravens LB Tavares Gooden won’t eat fish.

Says Bengals special teams coach Darrin Simmons of finding a kick returner, “We’ve got to find somebody to step up and be that guy for the whole year so we can develop continuity and consistency in the return game.  Hopefully, he’s here.”

There’s no quarterback controversy in Cleveland.

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Max Starks will play some left tackle in training camp but focus mostly on right tackle.

Says Bears DB Ricky Manning, “Right now I’m running with the [third team], so that tells me I’m not part of the team’s plans.”

Says Lions coach Rod Marinelli of rookie LB Jordon Dizon’s drunk driving arrest, He’s not a bad guy. There’s a difference — a bad guy and a guy that’s made a mistake.”

The Packers have released offensive lineman Cameron Stephenson.

Vikings LT Bryant McKinnie says he has nothing to say about the charges pending against him, adding, “Right now I’m just worried about camp until I get further notice.”

The Texans are looking forward to seeing rookie LT Duane Brown take on DE Mario Williams in practice.

Bill Polian might not care, but most of the Colts’ rookies have agreed to deals.

Jacksonville’s sheriff criticized the State Attorney’s Office for reducing a felony gun charge after prosecutors received a call from former Jaguar Tony Boselli on behalf of the accused man.

The Titans’ coaches are impressed with rookie defensive lineman Jason Jones.

Chiefs coach Herm Edwards plans to give the starters plenty of reps in training camp.

Said Raiders CB DeAngelo Hall of teammate Nnamdi Asomugha missing off-season workouts, “I think he’s done everything he needs to do to be in shape and ready to play. I don’t think it’s going to hurt him too much.“

Said Chargers coach Norv Turner of his young receivers, “The first thing is that they now realize how competitive this league is and how hard it is to make a play.”

Said Broncos RB Michael Pittman, “I do whatever I’m asked to do — I sit back and help the team.  I play receiver, I play running back, I played fullback at Tampa Bay, and I returned some kicks.”

Panthers G Travelle Wharton said he weighs 320 pounds, adding, “But it’s a good 320. Just being able to move with it is the main thing.”  [Editor’s note:  But when he’s walking around without clothing in the locker room, it’s definitely not “good naked.”]

The agent for WR Marques Colston says his new contract “truly is a win-win for both Marques and the Saints.”

Joe Theismann weighed in with his opinion on the Brett Favre situation: “I think the odds are better than 50-50 Favre ends up with the Bucs.”

Falcons coach Mike Smith says the cornerback competition is wide open.

Says Cardinals DT Darnell Dockett of reporting despite being unhappy with his contract, “It ain’t just about me.  There are 60 other guys that depend on me to do a job to make them better.”

A look at the Rams’ most important players.

Is 49ers coach Mike Nolan’s job on the line?

Sports fans in Seattle are counting on the Seahawks.

In any negotiation, credibility is important.  And Bears receiver/returner Devin Hester is taking a risk that he’ll have none in his current dispute with the Chicago Bears.

Because Hester says that he’s prepared to sit out the entire season, and that makes no sense at all. 

“It’s time for me to take a stand,” Hester told the Chicago Sun-Times.  “We’re going to stand by our decision to do this, and we feel like this can go down to whenever in the season or the end of the season.  No matter what.”

If he sits out the season, he’d lose a year of service toward free agency, and he wouldn’t get credit for one of the two years left on his rookie contract.  (To get credit for a contract year, he needs to show up by Week Ten of the regular season.)

Meanwhile, at more than $15,000 per day in fines, Hester’s bill to the Bears will in 30 days or so exceed his total base salary for the entire 2008 season of $450,000.

So Hester’s stance simply isn’t realistic.  And the rhetoric could cause positions to harden, and make it more difficult to work something out in the short term. 

Thus, the reality is that Hester will be back, unless he’s really stupid.  Or unless he’s secretly won the lottery.

The unexpected holdout of Bears receiver/kick returner Devin Hester illustrates the flipside of the mess that is the manner in which NFL rookies are paid.

Under the current system, players are paid over the first three-to-six years of their careers based primarily on when they were drafted.  If a top-five pick flames out, he keeps the money.  If a seventh-rounder becomes a stud, he gets nothing more — until he gets a new contract.

For many of the picks, they receive only a slotted signing bonus and minimum salaries for the life of the deal.

”For me to be being paid as much as players on other teams who are sixth- and seventh-round picks who haven’t played a snap,” Hester said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.  ”They’re getting paid the same amount as me after the two years I’ve had. . . .  It isn’t fair.”

Amen, Devin.  It isn’t fair. 

And so the NFL and the NFL Players Association need to agree on a system that permits every rookie to earn more money based on performance.

That said, the NFL currently makes available a league-wide pool that is distributed to players based on a formula that takes into account how much they play and how little they’re paid.  In 2008, for example, Willie Colon of the Steelers picked up an extra $309,000 on top of his $450,000 base salary.

But Hester surely wants more than that.  He wants a base salary that reflects his abilities and that reward him for his performance over the first two years of his contract.

The best approach could be to create a new players’ incentive system that, like the performance-based pay, isn’t part of each team’s salary cap.  The rookies’ base pay would be determined by a narrow NBA-style formula, making contract negotiatons simple and eliminating the opportunity for ridiculous increases from one year to the next (and reducing significantly the influence of agents).  Then, every rookie’s pay would be supplemented based on a system of incentives specifically negotiated for each position.

It’s the easiest path to a win-win.  The rookies would consume less cap space on each of their teams, and thus more of it would be available to veterans.  But the rookies would then be compensated fairly and appropriately for what they actually do between the white lines.

The New England Patriots have agreed to terms with first-round linebacker Jerrod Mayo, according to the Boston Globe.

Mayo, the No. 10 overall pick in the draft, is expected to miss the first of two practices on Thursday, the first day of the team’s training camp. 

The Tennessee linebacker shot up the draft board late in the process.  The Pats held the No. 7 pick, courtesy of a 2007 trade with the 49ers.  They then traded down to No. 10 during the draft.

Linebacker Ian Gold, a mainstay for the Denver Broncos for all of the decade (except for the year he played with the Buccaneers) has decided to retire from the NFL, according to Adam Schefter of NFL Network.

“When people hear I’m retiring, they’re going to be like, ‘Ian who?.  But I’m all right with that,” Gold said.

“I’ve had some people say to me, ‘You’re retiring?’, and they think it’s crazy,” Gold said.  “But it’s not.  It’s time to move on.  I’m not pulling a Brett Favre.  I’m getting out of the game with my health and my youth.”

Gold tore an ACL during the 2003 season, the final year of his rookie contract.  He signed as a free agent with the Bucs, started 13 games there in 2004, and then re-signed with the Broncos in 2005.

He started 16 games for Denver in 2005, 15 games in 2006, and 14 games in 2007.

Gold qualified for the Pro Bowl in 2001, his second NFL season.

As the New Orleans Saints try to reclaim the top spot in the NFC South, they’ll be getting started without their first-round pick and second-round pick in the 2008 draft.

And they might be without both of them for a while.

Asked whether he expects defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis and cornerback Tracey Porter to have long holdouts, G.M. Mickey Loomis said, “Right now I do.”

“There’s been very little progress in the first round period and really at the top of the second round there has been very little progress.  It’s frustrating.  I have to be honest with you.  I feel like it’s about the agents of these guys not wanting to look bad as opposed to any concern for getting the player in here, getting him acclimated and getting him going in the right way in their first year in the league.  It’s frustrating to be truthful.”

Loomis blames the delay on the attempts by agents to get significant increases over what was paid to players in the same slots a year ago.

“They’re all just waiting, not wanting to be first, not wanting to be embarrassed by a deal that gets done after they do their deal and frankly, they’re looking for some huge increases,” Loomis said. “Yes, they’ll do a deal if you want to give them some outrageous increase.  I just don’t know any business where you hand out 20 percent, 30 percent increases every year.  You’re not going to be in business very long if you do that.”

Released on Tuesday by the Houston Texans, offensive lineman Charles Spencer already has found a new home.

Per Adam Caplan of Scout.com, the Panthers claimed Spencer on waivers.

Spencer, a third-round pick in the 2006 draft, won the left tackle job as a rookie, but suffered a severe leg injury in the first month of the regular season and never returned.