Cam Newton has told reporters that to help ease the NFL lockout blues he has stuck to sleeping with his playbook. It is believed that by sleeping with his playbook it helps him become one with the rules and procedures that the Panther’s use during the season.

Due to the NFL lockout, Cam Newton has not been able to show the Panthers what he’s got. Cam Newton was the number one draft pick and will go up against existing quarterback, Jimmy Clausen for starting position this year when the lockout is finally lifted.

The lockout prevents Cam Newton from talking to or communicating with his brand new coaches and other staff members. While this might not be a problem for existing NFL players, this is tough on incoming players. They do not know the playbook, how coaches coach or what to expect with the other players on the team. Usually the offseason is used to warm them up to the other players and help them adjust to playing in the pros. However, that won’t be the case this year.

All Carolina Panthers and Cam Newton can do now is to hope that by sleeping with the Carolina playbook by his side every night, Newton will adjust quickly and understand what is needed of him on the new team so he stands a shot of starting in the 2011 season when it eventually starts.

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It was expected that should an agreement between the two sides not be met by midnight the talks would go into a standstill and the NFL as a whole would be put on hold. Both sides on Thursday agreed to an initial 24-hour extension that could be used to cast a vote that would allow the negotiations to continue for a longer period of time.

During the 24-hour extension period which occurred on Friday, March 5 both sides decided to vote on extending the negotiation period for another seven days. This would allow the NFL and the players union to continue to discuss the terms of the negotiation. Is expected that negotiations and mediation will resume promptly on Monday morning and are expected to last until Friday where possible work shortage could occur if no decision is agreed upon.

The negotiations between the Commissioner of the NFL and the NFL Players Association have already lasted 11 straight days in federal mediation and counseling services. Industry experts believe that this possible seven-day extension on the negotiations could be a sign that neither side wants to see a possible work shortage occur in the NFL.

Some of the major issues that are being discussed during the negotiation period include how possible revenues are split between players and owners, the starting salary of rookie players, the desire to extend the football season to 18 games and the need for benefits for retired players. These issues have been hotly debated and neither side has come to an agreement which has resulted in the need for federal mediation.

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The first major change that is being proposed by the NFL competition committee is the change to where kickoffs occur. Currently kickoffs occur on the 30 yard line. When kickoffs occur in the 30 yard line it is believed that there is a high chance that players could be involved in violent collisions that could cause concussions and sometimes paralysis. The solution to reducing the amount of injuries that occur during kickoff is to move the kickoff from the 30 yard line 235 yard line. However, this is not gone over as well as it should have.

There major complaint about moving the kickoff to the 35 yard line is that it would almost virtually remove any returns that occur during the game. Many NFL players and teams believe that this proposed change is actually a way to help other teams that have poor special teams as special teams in football are responsible for the returns.

Many current and past players have expressed concern that even with these changes serious injuries are likely to happen. This brings up the proposed question of whether changing the kickoff is really mandatory or if it is a way of trying to even the playing field in the ever-growing lopsided world of the NFL football league.

Technorati Tags: NFL competition committee, NFL football league, NFL players

Part of the problem that the casual fan has within the structure of the labor dispute is that they have no idea exactly what both sides are looking for, but a clearer piece of the puzzle may have come into view and it could make for an interesting case for both sides.

Here’s where thing get complicated, but it shall be simplified for you and your viewing pleasure. The NFL gets about nine billion a year in revenue from their television deals and sponsor. Now, before a deal is taken by the players the owners have always taken one billion for their own costs. Because operating a stadium and an organization is a lot of money.

Now, after the billion is taken off the top the players take roughly 55 to 60 percent of the remaining money. The owners take whatever is left after that. However, the owners this time around are asking for another one billion off the top. However, when the players are asking to see the books to determine if the extra money is really needed, the owners have refused saying they have shown more than enough. This is a problem and one that is causing the bulk of the problems with the CBA negotiations.

Until they figure out how to split that two billion dollars they will not have any hope of playing football next season and that is the worst news for the fans of the NFL.

Despite battling injuries for his entire career, the contract makes Winslow the highest paid tight end of all time, but at just 25 Winslow’s best years should still be ahead of him.  The Bucs have the most cap room in the league with the recent releases of some high profile veteran players.

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Given the money the Raiders have sunk in to underachieving starter JaMarcus Russell the move is certainly curious, but the 39 year old Garcia has been a winner almost everywhere he has played and could help the Raiders turn their luck around.

No word on whether Garcia would be allowed to compete for the starting job or would start the year as a backup due to Russell’s large contract.

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Burress, who had his court date postponed until May 15, has an uphill battle fighting New York City gun charges, with the city being known to have some of the toughest gun laws in the country.

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Pace is slotted at left tackle which should move Chris Williams to right tackle.  Pace has battled injury problems each of the last two seasons but is a great upgrade to the Bears offensive line if he can remain healthy for most or all of the season.

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The move gives the Bears the quarterback they’ve been missing for the better part of a couple decades while the Broncos get a servicible quarterback (who will compete with Chris Simms for the job) and a couple of first round picks they can spend upgrading their terrible defense.  There is also the chance that the Broncos package their two first rounders (or some combination of their 12 picks in this draft) to move up or acquire another quarterback.

Technorati Tags: Chris Simms, Jay Cutler, Kyle Orton

A fine mess this is.  Now being forced to trade Cutler the Broncos will be hard pressed to get anything near full value for him while both Cutler and McDaniels lose a tremendous amount of credibility throughout the league.  No official word on teams interested in Cutler but the New York Jets and Tampa Bay Bucs are the likely landing spots for Cutler.

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