NFL Teams Getting Ready For Workouts
Veteran offensive lineman Barry Sims signed with the San Francisco 49ers, crossing the bay after nine years with the Oakland Raiders.
Sims, who joined the league as an undrafted free agent in 1999, started all 16 games at left tackle for the Raiders last season as their longest-tenured player. He played both guard and tackle for Oakland. How has the tide changed. People will come out to the games with their San Francisco 49ers jerseys on and the Oakland fans will be disappointed that he didn’t stay with them.
Four teams made a bid for Sims’ services in recent weeks, but he chose the 49ers because of the geographical proximity to his Bay Area home and a better chance to be a major contributor.
Sims probably will begin training camp in competition with right tackle Jonas Jennings.
The Chicago Bears agreed to terms on a four-year contact with RB Matt Forte. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Forte was selected by the Bears 44th overall out of Tulane and is the 11th of 12 Bears drafts picks to sign or agree to terms.
Forte is expected to replace Cedric Benson in the lineup. The Bears waived Benson in June after three ineffective, injury-plagued years following his second alcohol-related rest in a month. Some are really mad that they bought a Benson jersey after they got other Chicago Bears jerseys.
Unless the Bears sign a veteran, Forte figures to get most of the carries.
Forte is just the 11th player in NCAA Division I history to rush for 2,000 yards in a season.
Chicago had already signed or agreed to terms with third round picks Marcus Harrison and Earl Bennett, fourth-round choice Craig Steltz, fifth-round selections Kellen Davis and Zack Bowman, and seventh-round picks Ervin Baldwin, Chester Adams, Joey LaRocque, Kirk Barton and Marcus Monk.
The Bengals and Georgetown College reached another one-year extension Wednesday for training camp at the Kentucky college’s East Campus Athletic Complex.
“We’re happy to announce an agreement to extend our relationship with Georgetown College,” said Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis in a press release announcing a deal that runs through ‘09 in what will mark the 13th season of the relationship.
Field conditions have been a concern in the past at Georgetown, but not lately. Ward says the unknowns now revolve around attendance.
Now that defensive tackle Domata Peko is in the fold, it’s time to start the watch on 2006 draft classmate Andrew Whitworth.
Steve Colson, Whitworth’s agent, said Wednesday he has met face-to-face with the Bengals front office about an extension for the rookie deal that is up in 2009.
Since being taken in the second round out of LSU in ‘06, Whitworth has emerged as one of the more important Bengals with 28 starts almost evenly divided at two different spots. The current left guard has made 15 starts there and the other 13 at left tackle.
Peko, a fourth-round pick in ‘06, signed a five-year, $30 million extension last week. The Bengals team doesn’t know how fan support will fare this year because last year’s attendance was a big drop from the previous year. They hope that the ones who actually come wear their Cincinnati Bengals jerseys to show their pride.
Defensive tackle Kyle Williams signed a three-year contract extension with the Buffalo Bills potentially worth $14.4 million.
The two-year starter is now signed through 2012 and is guaranteed $5.2 million over the next two seasons. Now some Bills fans are ready to buy one of his Buffalo Bills jerseys but that is only if he makes an impact like he is projected to do.
Williams received a roster bonus of $1.75 million and will make a base salary of $700,000 this season, a significant raise over the $445,000 he was scheduled to make under his previous contract. Williams is also due a $1.5 million bonus in March. Williams had two years left on his contract.
The Bills’ fifth-round pick in the 2006 draft out of Louisiana State has two sacks, both last season, in 32 career games.
Williams is expected to get significant playing time while competing with former first-round pick John McCargo for the starting job alongside newly acquired veteran Marcus Stroud this season.
For Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler, this has been an offseason of experimentation.
No, he is not testing out any new methods of taking snaps or dropping back in the pocket or throwing the ball. Cutler’s laboratory has been his body. Specifically, he is trying to figure out how it reacts to all of the variables that go with the treatment of Type 1 Diabetes.
Despite starting all 16 games last year, Cutler knew something was wrong. Very wrong.
“I was fatigued all the time,” he said. “There wasn’t a lot of zip on my passes. I couldn’t lift, I couldn’t run. I mean, I was so tired.
In April, after a team-administered physical examination before the start of the Broncos’ offseason workouts, a blood test revealed the cause of Cutler’s issues.
Cutler has an insulin pump that acts as a pancreas, providing the doses he needs through a catheter, although he isn’t wearing it while playing golf and he won’t wear it when he’s on the football field.
When not wearing the pump, Cutler gives himself daily injections of insulin, a long-lasting form in the morning to cover him for the entire day. He takes a fast-acting form after a meal.
Cutler has no intention of allowing diabetes to alter his approach to the game. He intends to continue to be the fiery competitor he has been for as long as he has played football. He has rapidly gained a reputation for trash-talking, which separates him from most of the leagues other quarterbacks. And Cutler vows to talk as much trash as ever, particularly if any people who don’t have on Denver Broncos jerseys or merchandise dare talk trash to him.
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