The league leader in jersey sales missed his second training camp workout on Thursday while his agent and the Broncos continue to wrestle with a contract that’s expected to be for roughly 5 years and $12 million.

Tebow, who added Jockey this week to the growing stable of products he currently represents – Nike, EA Sports, was the 25^th pick and the second quarterback taken in the 2010 NFL draft. 

FAVRE-LIKE OPTION FOR BILLS’ SCHOBEL

The Buffalo Bills placed defensive end Aaron Schobel, who’s still mulling retirement, on the reserve/did not report list Thursday.

Schobel, who did not report for the start of Bills camp and has missed all of the team’s off-season workouts, said earlier this week that he was leaning toward playing but won’t decide until mid-August.

RAIDERS SIGN 1^ST ROUND PICK MCCLAIN

Rolando McClain, the 8^th overall pick in the 2010 NFL draft, agreed to a contract with the Oakland Raiders Wednesday night, hours before the team’s first workout. Financial terms were not disclosed.

McClain is the highest draft pick to sign thus far, and only the third first-round selection, joining Dallas’ Dez Bryant and the Patriots Devin McCourty, who signed Wednesday morning.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 28

GATES GETS PAID

The San Diego Chargers made perennial Pro Bowler Antonio Gates the highest-paid tight end in league history on Wednesday.

Gates, who caught 79 passes for a career-best 1,157 yards, with 8 TDs in 2009, signed a reported 5-year contract extension worth $36.2 million, with $20.4 million guaranteed.

The former basketball star at Kent State went undrafted in 2003 but has developed into a 3-time All-Pro and 6-time Pro Bowler.

“I’ve been blessed my whole career to be with one team,” Gates said in a statement released by the team. “It’s always good to get it out of the way. The goal is to win a championship. We all are human and it becomes a distraction even though you might not want it to be. It’s always great to be able to go ahead and do what you need to do and get it out of the way.”

CASH FOR BANKRUPT BRUNELL

The Jets made it official on Wednesday, announcing that Mark Brunell had signed a 2-year contract to become the team’s backup quarterback behind Mark Sanchez.

The team couldn’t sign Brunell until free agency restrictions were lifted last week for the final eight playoff teams.

The 39-year-old Brunell, who filed for bankruptcy last month because of failed investments, worked out for the Jets a few months ago and then again on Wednesday.

Brunell spent the last seasons in New Orleans as a backup to Drew Brees. He has thrown for 31,928 yards and 182 touchdowns in 18 NFL seasons.

TUESDAY, JULY 27

MT. CODY GROUNDED BY RAVENS

Mt. Cody can’t move fast enough for the Ravens.

Baltimore Ravens rookie defensive tackle Terrence Cody failed his conditioning test on Tuesday and was not allowed to practice with the team.

Cody, a second-round draft pick out of Alabama, is listed as 6-4 and weighing 354 pounds. Weight issues – he has tipped the scales at more than 400 pounds, likely dropped him out of the first round of the 2010 NFL draft and now he’ll begin his career on the active physically unable to perform list.

“Part of our process is everybody’s got to pass the conditioning test to be sure they’re ready to compete,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said after Tuesday’s practice. “It’s going to be hot out here, our practices are fast. We’ve got to be sure guys are physically ready to practice at the pace we’re practising at.
“So, when he passes the conditioning test, he’ll practise.”

The Ravens other second-round pick, outside linebacker Sergio Kindle, is also not active. He fractured his skull while falling down a flight of stairs last week and will probably miss the entire camp.

PATRIOTS WELKER IN SAME BOAT

The New England Patriots also placed wide receiver Wes Welker in the active physically unable to perform list prior to the start of training camp.

The league’s leading receiver in 2009, Welker, is coming off surgery to repair a torn ACL but because he was placed on the PUP list now, can come off the list at any time.

MONDAY, JULY 26 

COWBOYS ROOKIE TAKES A STAND

And so it begins…

In San Antonio, rookie wide receiver Dez Bryant fired the first salvo at Cowboys camp by refusing to carry veteran Roy Williams’ shoulder pads after practice.

The team’s first-round draft pick – and the player most likely to supplant Williams as a starter, sooner rather later — objected to the rookie hazing by saying, “I was drafted to play football, not carry another player’s pads.”

Good for Bryant. Hazing has stopped pretty much everywhere else in society, there’s no need to have it continue. Especially right under the very public eye of commissioner Roger Goodell.

Williams, who had to carry pads as a rookie with the Lions in 2004, and has a hard time grasping reality – he still believes he’s a No. 1 receiver, doesn’t get this concept or the subtleties of stealth. Like publicizing punitive plans across national media.

“He’s kind of ornery right now,” Williams said of Bryant. “He doesn’t want to carry the pads. He said that’s our pads and we should take them in the locker room….. If not, we’ll go to Step 2.”

Step 2?

“We’ll find out; we’re definitely going to find out,” Williams said.

“I’ve seen guys take people’s credit cards and go fill up their cars and wives’ cars. There’s a lot of dirt that goes on in that locker room.”  

SERGIO KINDLE’S FALL

Sergio Kindle, the Baltimore Ravens top pick in the 2010 NFL draft, is in stable condition after injuring his head at a home he was visiting and will not report to training camp on Monday.

Kindle is believed to have fallen down two flights of stairs Thursday night at a home in Austin, Texas,

“We understand Sergio is stable at this time and that he is being tested and observed,” Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said.

Kindle, a disruptive pass rusher at Texas where he was compared favorably with former Longhorn teammate Brian Orakpo, was considered a first-round talent but dropped to the second round and the 43^rd pick due to injury and character concerns.

WHO’S IN, WHO’S OUT? TWO ON THE WAY IN

Adrian Peterson, Vikings: Unexplained absence at minicamp to help celebrate Adrian Peterson Day in his hometown of Palestine, Texas, all forgotten says team and star running back.

Tom Brady, Patriots: According to sources, ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting that there’s enough progress in contract negotiations between the two sides  that a deal could be completed this summer and past acrimony will be forgotten. Brady is entering the last year of his contract.

Quoting unnamed sources, the paper says the league will make the announcement by Friday.

Young received a misdemeanour assault citation for his role in a June 13 incident at Club Onyx.

According to the incident report, Young struck a club employee, Creiton Kitchen, in the face after Kitchen flashed a horns down sign at the former Texas Longhorn around 3 a.m.

“There were words exchanged. The (guy) gave an upside ‘Hook ’em Horns’ and that’s kind of what started the verbal altercation. … It upset Vince Young and the next thing you know they were involved in a scuffle,” Dallas Police Lt. Andy Harvey said at the time.

“The other guy received very, very minor injuries. He received a cut lip at the most. It didn’t even swell. It wasn’t like a punch.’’

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell indicated last month that first-time offenders like Young usually don’t warrant a suspension under the league’s personal conduct policy.

Young, the No. 3 pick overall in 2006, got his starting job back and replaced Kerry Collins last season after Tennessee started 0-6 at the insistence of owner Bud Adams. Young helped the club to an 8-2 mark and passed for 1,879 yards with 10 TDs and 7 INTs.

He had lost his job as a starter in 2008 following a bizarre series of events that included a city-wide police search. Coach Jeff Fisher had been informed that Young was contemplating suicide and was carrying a gun, concerns that proved to be unfounded.

Are there enough footballs, microphones, cameras and Tweets to go around?

Will TD celebrations turn into a circus of one-upmanship in the Jungle?

The Cincinnati Bengals opened up a can of questions on Tuesday when it was reported that they had come to terms with free agent wide receiver Terrell Owens, adding the star of one reality VH1 show to another already in house in Chad Ochocinco.

Ochouno and Ochocinco.

Get yer fines ready.

Owens, who, like his good friend Ochocinco, is no stranger to league and team sanctions, has agreed to a reported one-year, $2 million deal with another $2 million in “very reachable” incentives according to agent Drew Rosenhaus.

The 36-year old Owens caught 55 passes for 829 yards and 5 TDs with Buffalo last season and earned $6.5 million.

“Hoping 2 b a Bengal w/in the 24hrs!!” read a post on his Twitter account. “Ocho Uno is coming 2 town!! Hey Robin, Batman will b there soon!”

Ochocinco, Robin to Owens’ Batman, wasted no time in getting his posts out as well.

“My homeboy is a Bengal, all of our games have been moved to pay-per-view, you got to pay to see this shh!” read Ochocinco’s Twitter account.

“we like batman n robin, siskel n ebert, ying n yang, bonnie n clyde but you’re bonnie though

“I bet i won’t see all them damn double teams now! Cedric Benson could have a 2,000 yard season with the attention we gonna command.

The Bengals open their training camp on Wednesday in Georgetown, Ky., but Owens isn’t expected to arrive until Thursday night.

Owens, who’s sixth in career receptions with 1,006 and ranks third in career yards (14,591) and TDs (144), tried out for the Bengals in March but the team opted to sign Antonio Bryant to a four-year, $28 million contract instead.

Concerns about Bryant’s knee and how it’s still not 100 per cent was reportedly a factor in the team reconsidering its options at receiver.

The question now will be how Owens, who’s never shied away from complaining about the number of balls thrown his way, or his quarterbacks, or his offensive co-ordinators will fit in with a team that, at least fiscally, pays two other receivers more in salary.

Quarterback Carson Palmer, who worked out with Owens recently in California and added his vote of support for the signing, will have the unenviable task of keeping two reality TV stars happy. And Bryant isn’t a shrinking violet either.

At this point in time, however, hope seems to spring eternal.

“Yes, people can make mistakes,” owner Mike Brown said at the Bengals’ preseason luncheon Monday. “It doesn’t mean that they go on the rest of their lives making mistakes. They can get their ship pointed in the right direction. This is a 36-year-old man. He’s been through a lot. He’s proven as a player and as a person.”

 The Daily News in Philadelphia is reporting that NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said via email that “there is no change in his playing status.”

The Eagles open training camp on Monday in Bethlehem, Penn., and Vick is expected to be there and take questions.

Vick, who served 18 months in prison for his role in a dogfighting ring, remains on probation and is not allowed to associate a convicted felon. Quanis Phillips, a codefendant of Vick in the dogfighting ring who also served time, was shot in the leg outside the party.

But the prosecutor in the case absolved Vick of wrongdoing following the investigation, saying the Eagles backup quarterback was not involved in the shooting nor did “anything that would amount to aggressive or assaultive conduct.”

 On Monday, the team posted a statement attributed to the owner on Twitter, “It is up to him. We have interest. We are talking to him.”

According to reports, Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer has been working out with the free agent receiver in California and has been impressed by the 36-year-old.

Owens is coming off a down season in Buffalo but is sixth in career receptions with 1,006 and ranks third in career yards (14,591) and TDs (144).

He worked out with the Bengals in March but the team opted to sign Antonio Bryant despite the intense public lobbying by Cincinnati stalwart Chad Ochocinco.

 He remains unsigned largely because of his demands to be paid in $5 to $6 million range, according to reports. That and the fact that outside of Buffalo, he’s made a habit of publicly ripping his quarterbacks and offensive co-ordinators.

It’s likely another team (the Rams) will offer more than the Bengals but the team is banking the offensive arsenal in Cincinnati will be more tempting.

The Broncos and Dumervil agreed to a 5-year, $58.3 million extension, which kicks in after 2010, when the fifth-year player will earn $3.2 million.

While the total amount of money is not earth shattering, the guaranteed amount is. According to the Denver Post, Dumervil is guaranteed $43.2 million.

“Elvis is a very talented player who will help lead our defense and is also an outstanding person and teammate,” Broncos coach Josh McDaniels said in a release.

“The way he has handled this lengthy negotiation this offseason is a great example of the type of player and person we want on our team. We look forward to Elvis’ impact for many years to come.”

In his first four seasons in the league, Dumervil has racked up 43 sacks, including 17 last season when he lead the league.

The NFL Network’s Jason La Canfora is reporting that according to his sources, $8.5 million is guaranteed.
Because of their involvement in the Hall of Fame game, the Cowboys are the first team to open training camp this season. The first workout in San Antonio is scheduled for Saturday.

“This was very important to me to be able to get this done in time for the first practice,” Bryant said. “I want to help this team. I want to compete. I can’t wait to start playing football again.”

Bryant was considered a top-10 talent but slid down the draft and the Cowboys traded up three spots to get him with the 24th pick.

In 2008, Bryant caught 87 passes for 1,480 yards and 19 TDs for Oklahoma State but got into only three games last season after lying to the NCAA about meeting with Deion Sanders, , who is also associated with agent Eugene Parker.

Bryant gives a powerful Cowboys attack another multi-purpose threat in addition to Austin Miles, Jason Witten and Felix Jones.