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It appears there are going to be some casualties on coach Rex Ryan's 2012 Super Bowl run.

The New York Jets are reportedly on the verge of releasing four notable players: Right tackle Damien Woody, linebacker Jason Taylor, nose tackle Kris Jenkins and defensive end Vernon Gholston. Check that, three notable players, Gholston doesn’t count.

“Just informed about my release,” Woody said on his Twitter page. “Want to thank Jets and all the fans out there. it was a great ride!”

These are surprising moves considering all three players have been solid contributors to New York. Unfortunately, the uncertainty regarding the collective bargaining agreement has meant the Jets need to make tough moves now.

Jenkins was one of the best nose tackles in the NFL, but injuries have sidelined him for over the last season and a half. Taylor, a 15-year vet, showed he still had gas in the tank and had five sacks, two forced fumbles and two recoveries last season. Woody was a starting tackle in an offense that hung its hat on an elite running game.

All three combined for 11 Pro Bowls.

As for Gholston, he is little more than a cap dump. As the sixth pick in the 2008 NFL draft he wasan afterthought on special teams. He cost the Jets much more than he was worth.

More cuts are sure to come from other teams as it doesn’t look like a new NFL deal will be done anytime soon.

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In a move that’s rather surprising but also not really much so, the Chicago Bears have released former Pro Bowl defensive tackle Tommie Harris ahead of a likely lockout by the owners on Friday. After that day, all league business basically is on hold other than the draft.

For a while, Harris, the first draft pick of the Lovie Smith era (14th overall in 2004 out of Oklahoma), was arguably the best defensive tackle in the league. But that hasn’t been the case for a few years as Harris had underperformed the past three seasons and been plagued by injuries. So the Bears released him rather than pay him more than $5.2 million in 2011. Harris was also due a $2.5 million roster bonus in June. It's possible Harris could return to the Bears if he takes a pay cut. He became the first defensive tackle in franchise history to be voted to three straight Pro Bowls.

Harris started 90 games for the Bears overall and had 28.5 sacks. Last season he had just 18 tackles with 1 1/2 sacks. He was held out of an early-season matchup with the Packers because of what Smith said was a performance issue. Harris was benched twice previously in his career including a one-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the team.

Chicago also cut linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer, who went on injured reserve after Week 1 last season, and offensive lineman Kevin Shaffer. Hillenmeyer appeared in 101 games with 69 starts with eight seasons, registering 458 tackles, seven sacks, two interceptions, 16 pass breakups, six forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries, 17 tackles-for-loss and 37 special-team tackles. Shaffer started seven games at right tackle over the past two seasons. Both players were entering the final year of their contracts.

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Memo to the Cincinnati Bengals: Carson Palmer does not want to play for your team.

Palmer has been demanding a trade for over a month and he took it a step further on Tuesday.

"I have $80 million in the bank. I don't have to play football for money,” Palmer “I'll play it for the love of the game but that would have to be elsewhere. I'm prepared to live my life.”

He added that he’ll “never set foot in Paul Brown Stadium again.”

Usually the Browns Family is pretty hardcore when it comes to trade demands — they don’t budge. But Palmer isn’t Chad Ochocinco threatening a hold out, he’s prepared to retire if he doesn’t get his way.

There are plenty of teams that need a quarterback: The Tennessee Titans, Washington Redskins, San Francisco 49ers, Minnesota Vikings, Buffalo Bills, and Arizona Cardinals. Considering a couple of years ago the Bengals asked for two first-round picks for Ochocinco, the Bengals asking price may be a lot even though they’re not exactly in an advantageous position.

That said, they do have a shot at one of the top QBs in the NFL draft. With the No. 4 pick they can take Cam Newton or Blaine Gabbert. Gabbert would likely have the advantage, as his recent

Palmer has been the team’s franchise quarterback since he was drafted No. 1 overall in 2003. The two-time pro bowler led the Bengals to the playoffs in 2005 and 2009.

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I’m not a lawyer and I don’t play one on TV, but it appears that a federal judge’s ruling on Wednesday against the NFL owners having a $4 billion war chest of TV money during a lockout that is expected to go into effect on Friday could very much affect labor negotiations with the NFL Players’ Association.

And because this ruling seems to undercut the owners’ leverage, maybe it even leads to a deal sooner rather than later.

Let’s be clear: the owners are still going to lock out the player on Friday after the current CBA expires Thursday at 11:59 ET. But Wednesday’s ruling by U.S. District Court Judge David Doty overruled special master Stephen Burbank's recent decision that the owners could use the $4 billion in television money they had stashed away as a potential work-stoppage fund when the CBA expires. The union argued that the NFL didn’t get as much revenue as possible when it restructured broadcast contracts in 2009 and 2010, and claimed the deals were designed to guarantee owners enough money to survive a lockout.

Doty said that the NFL violated its agreement with the union, which had asked that the TV money be placed in escrow until the end of any lockout. A hearing, yet to be scheduled, will be held to determine potential damages for the players as well as an injunction involving the TV contracts. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello downplayed the significance of the ruling, saying the 32 teams were "prepared for any contingency."

Basically this $4 billion was “lockout insurance” for the owners. That group seemed to have one voice and was prepared for a long lockout, but now some of those smaller market owners might flinch because they don’t have the type of money in the bank that the big-market owners like Jerry Jones and Dan Snyder bring in. And even Jones needs the money considering he has to pay the mortgage and the banks for his loans on the $1.6 billion Cowboys Stadium.

Maybe this means nothing, but it also would appear that the owners’ leverage is now weaker, although they will certainly appeal this decision.

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At 11:59 p.m. ET time tonight, the NFL essentially goes away. Yes, the owners and NFL Players’ Association are negotiating today, but when the current collective bargaining agreement expires at 11:59, the owners then are expected to lock out the players first thing on Friday. All player movement outside of the draft will cease.

Is there a chance for a last-minute agreement – or at least an extension? Very, very unlikely.

Assuming the sides can’t come together today, other possibilities are that the union will decertify sometime before the deadline (this seems likely), meaning the players would give up their rights under labor law and instead take their chances in court under antitrust law. The NFLPA made big gains in 1993 after it voluntarily agreed to be decertified a few years earlier. Also, the deadline could be extended, and NFL general counsel Jeff Pash reiterated that was a possibility.

But things obviously aren’t going well as most owners who were in Washington, D.C., for federal mediation talks said after Wednesday’s meeting that they were leaving town, and Thursday's planned get-together was canceled.

The core issues remain these: No. 1 is how to divide the league's revenues, including what cut team owners should get up front to help cover certain costs. Under the old deal, owners received about $1 billion off the top of the $9 billion in league revenue. Now they want an additional $1 billion credit. Also, the players got 59.6 percent of the remaining revenue. The owners believe that's too much. Among the other significant topics are a rookie wage scale; the owners' wanting to expand the regular season from 16 games to 18 while reducing the preseason by two games; and benefits for retired players.

Most experts believe the sides have no chance of coming to a deal until the summer at the earlier when the sense of urgency for the 2011 season will become much greater.

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The latest deadline for the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL owners and players expires at 5 p.m. ET on Friday and there’s still really no true hope for an agreement by then – although another extension is very possible.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was among a half-dozen team representatives who joined NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell at labor negotiations Thursday.

But here are the two pieces of news that will most interest fans: a rookie wage scale reportedly has been agreed to and the NFLPA simply will not agree to an expanded 18-game regular-season schedule.

"First of all, the league has never presented a formal proposal for 18 games," NFLPA president DeMaurice Smith said. "But more importantly, it's something that our players don't want. Eighteen games is not in the best interest of our players' safety, so we're not doing it."

That was expected to be a major sticking point in the negotiations. But on the bright side, there are reports that the union and league have agreed to the parameters of a new rookie wage scale. It would decrease payouts to incoming players while limiting first-round picks to four-year contracts and all other draftees to three-year deals, though those players could get restricted tenders to retain them for a fourth season. Long story short: no more $50 million guaranteed contracts like 2010 No. 1 overall pick Sam Bradford got from the Rams.

In another positive note, the owners had wanted an extra $1 billion credit before splitting revenues with players but the owners have now lowered that total to $700 million.

If there is no agreement or extension by Friday’s deadline, the NFLPA is expected to decertify and then suit the NFL over antitrust claims. Then things would get ugly.

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The moment every NFL bettor has dreaded is here, it's almost lockout time.

NFL labor talks broke down just hours before the latest contract extension expired Friday. And, as threatened, the NFLPA decertified and its players plan to file an antitrust suit. The player think the owners have been holding back financial info, and want the courts to dig deeper.

“We met with the owners until about 4 o’clock today,” NFL union head DeMaurice Smith said. “We discussed a proposal they had presented. At this time, significant differences continue to remain. We informed the owners that … if there was going to be a request for an extension, that we asked for 10 years of audited financial information to accompany that extension.”

As anyone who watched the O.J. Simpson trial knows, court takes forever and could go deep into the NFL offseason before a decision is reached if the NFLPA pushed the suit forward.

It appears both sides were about $185 million per year apart on how much money owners would get up front during the new collective bargaining agreement. Now that sounds like a bad thing, but it’s much less than the $1 billion that separated them for a long time. The union refused to budge any further without getting detailed financial information for each team.

What does that mean for bettors? Of course that could mean you might have to bet on darts and golf odds come September. However, don’t count the 2011 season out yet, the NFL players and owners love money, and they don’t want to threaten the NFL’s future when things have been going so well.

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The labor situation may be up in the air, but that doesn’t mean we can’t speculate on next season’s NFL football betting opportunities. With the draft inching closer, let’s examine the current 2011 Super Bowl futures.

The defending-champion Green Bay Packers are tied with the New England Patriots at the top of the list, as both teams have 7/1 Super Bowl odds. Green Bay looks poised for several years of dominance. The Packers have a young franchise quarterback in Aaron Rodgers, and they managed to win a title last season despite suffering tons of injuries on both sides of the ball. If Green Bay can win a Super Bowl when it is ravaged by injuries, how good will it be if it stays relatively healthy?

The Patriots, meanwhile, looked like the best team in the NFL before melting down in the postseason. New England has some holes, most notably at wide receiver. The Pats couldn’t stretch the field in their playoff loss to the Jets, but that problem will be rectified on the draft. The Patriots have two first-round picks, two seconds, two thirds, and a fourth, fifth, and sixth. The rich will get richer on draft day.

The AFC Champion Steelers are next in line with 11/1 odds to win a championship. Pittsburgh remains loaded with talent, but if it can’t find some ways to improve the offensive line it’s hard to imagine quarterback Ben Roethlisberger lasting a full season.

The San Diego Chargers are right behind Pittsburgh at 12/1. It’s the same old story in San Diego; the team is one of the NFL’s most talented, but can it deliver on its potential and win in the postseason? Horrid special teams and injuries on offense plagued the Chargers last season, and that’s something that can be fixed in 2011—but putting your trust in the Chargers after so many failures is risky.

There’s a cluster of teams tied with 14/1 Super Bowl odds: the Baltimore Ravens, Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints, and New York Jets. Both the Ravens and Jets have a Packers-like feel to them—young, talented teams ready to break through. The Colts and Saints, meanwhile, are aging teams who could be headed in either direction.

It's never too early.

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Last year tiger’s sex scandals were hot, we are surprised that he had so many mistresses. In the new year he found new girlfriend. She is beautiful? She is sexy? Look at new girlfriend ….[/FONT]

I didn't see that Patriot collapse coming. Guess they couldn't get inside information like back in the good ole days. Yeah, the Packers are an obvious pick to repeat - I think they're boring though.

We also hope so,come on,packers:thumbsup:thumbsup.

I have to say you are a generalist.

Patrick Willis has been selected the best LB.And Ray thought he is a his successor,congratulate.

Most NFL fans, once they get a look at their team’s schedule for the upcoming season, like to break down which games will be won and which will be lost – not surprisingly, almost every team would have double-digit wins if you just went by wishful fans’ hopes. Let’s take a look at the NFC runner-up Chicago Bears’ schedule for this upcoming season, if there is one. How many wins will the Monsters of the Midway get? That’s tough to predict without knowing how a new CBA may change things in the NFL.

On the surface of things, it seems Chicago’s schedule is very tough even though it is ranked as the 23rd most difficult in the league. However, a 0-3 start is possible for the defending NFC North champs. The Bears’ first three opponents — the Falcons, Saints and Packers — had a combined winning percentage last season of .708. That Week 14 game at Denver will be Jay Cutler’s first back in Denver.

In addition, the end of the season looks like a challenge as three of Chicago’s final four games on the road and they have only two games at Soldier Field after Nov. 20. If the Bears are to repeat as division champions, they have to close with back-to-back games against division rivals in the Packers and Vikings.

The Bears were given four night games on the season, three of them in a brutal four-game stretch that includes a trip to London against Tampa Bay. An overseas trip by itself usually takes a toll on a team. However, if the labor situation isn’t solved by Aug. 1, the Bears won’t have to make that trip to London and will instead play that Bucs game in Tampa.

Bears Regular-Season Schedule (All times Eastern)
Week 1: Sunday, Sep. 11, Atlanta, 1:00 PM
Week 2: Sunday, Sep. 18, at New Orleans, 1:00 PM
Week 3: Sunday, Sep. 25, Green Bay, 4:15 PM
Week 4: Sunday, Oct. 2, Carolina, 1:00 PM
Week 5: Monday, Oct. 10, at Detroit, 8:30 PM
Week 6: Sunday, Oct. 16, Minnesota, 8:20 PM
Week 7: Sunday, Oct. 23, at Tampa Bay, 1:00 PM
Week 8: BYE
Week 9: Monday, Nov. 7, at Philadelphia, 8:30 PM
Week 10: Sunday, Nov. 13, Detroit, 1:00 PM
Week 11: Sunday, Nov. 20, San Diego, 4:15 PM
Week 12: Sunday, Nov. 27, at Oakland, 4:05 PM
Week 13: Sunday, Dec. 4, Kansas City, 1:00 PM
Week 14: Sunday, Dec. 11, at Denver, 4:05 PM
Week 15: Sunday, Dec. 18, Seattle, 1:00 PM
Week 16: Sunday, Dec. 25, at Green Bay, 8:20 PM
Week 17: Sunday, Jan. 1, at Minnesota, 1:00 PM

Chicago is 25/1 to win Super Bowl XLVI – bet on NFL futures now at Bodog Sportsbook!

The Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers will make history with their 2011 schedule: They will be the first team in NFL history to complete the holiday sweep by playing on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day in the same season. When you are the champs, the TV networks love you so you don’t get the holidays off.

As usual, the defending Super Bowl champions open the season at home on a Thursday night, and Green Bay hosts New Orleans, the previous Super Bowl champion, on Sept. 8 to kick off the season – assuming there is one with the current labor situation. The reigning Super Bowl champion is 7-0 in these opening Thursday national TV games. Green Bay will be on national TV as much as anyone with four prime-time games and that fifth national time slot against the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day.

The Packers were 3-5 on the road last season, and the early season schedule sends them away from Lambeau Field three times during a four-week stretch from Weeks 2 through 5. It would appear the most grueling part of the schedule would be three games in 11 days, starting with a Monday night game in Week 10 against the Minnesota Vikings, continuing in Week 11 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and concluding with the Thanksgiving Day game.

The good news is that the Packers are at home for their two regular-season finales against Chicago and Detroit. This was critical in their 2010 playoff run as they won their two regular-season finales to qualify for the postseason.

Seven of the Packers opponents finished 2010 with winning records — the Saints (11-5), Bears (11-5), Falcons (13-3), Buccaneers (10-6), Giants (10-6), Chiefs (10-6) and Chargers (9-7). The Packers maintain the 13th toughest schedule with a 2010 opponent record of 130-126.

Packers Regular-Season Schedule (All times Eastern)
Week 1: Thursday, Sep. 8, New Orleans, 8:30 PM
Week 2: Sunday, Sep. 18, at Carolina, 1:00 PM
Week 3: Sunday, Sep. 25, at Chicago, 4:15 PM
Week 4: Sunday, Oct. 2, Denver, 4:15 PM
Week 5: Sunday, Oct. 9, at Atlanta, 8:20 PM
Week 6: Sunday, Oct. 16, St. Louis, 1:00 PM
Week 7: Sunday, Oct. 23, at Minnesota, 4:15 PM
Week 8: BYE
Week 9: Sunday, Nov. 6, at San Diego, 4:15 PM
Week 10: Monday, Nov. 14, Minnesota, 8:30 PM
Week 11: Sunday, Nov. 20, Tampa Bay, 1:00 PM
Week 12: Thursday, Nov. 24, at Detroit, 12:30 PM
Week 13: Sunday, Dec. 4, at NY Giants, 4:15 PM
Week 14: Sunday, Dec. 11, Oakland, 1:00 PM
Week 15: Sunday, Dec. 18, at Kansas City, 1:00 PM
Week 16: Sunday, Dec. 25, Chicago, 8:20 PM
Week 17: Sunday, Jan. 1, Detroit, 1:00 PM

Green Bay is 7/1 on Bodog Sportsbook NFL odds to win Super Bowl XLVI – bet now!

In some ways, the 2011 season is already a success for the perennially downtrodden Detroit Lions. Why is that? The Lions will play a Monday night national television game this season for the first time since 2001. That’s due in large part that many believe this is an up-and-coming team. Yes, Detroit lost at least 10 games for the 10th consecutive year in 2010, but it also ended the year on a momentum-building four-game winning streak.

That Monday nighter against the reigning NFC North champion Bears will be the Lions’ first appearance on prime time since 2005 when they played a Sunday night game at Green Bay. Chicago was the only NFC North team to sweep the Lions last year.

The schedule also features the Lions' 72nd Thanksgiving Day Classic on Nov. 24 vs. the defending Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers. It will be the 20th time the Lions have battled the Packers on Thanksgiving and the fifth time since 2001. Detroit has played Green Bay more than any other opponent in the Thanksgiving Day series and holds an 11-7-1 (.579) advantage.

The Lions open against the team they beat to snap their 26-game road losing streak last year, the Tampa Bay Bucs. In addition, four of the Lions’ first eight games are against teams with first-year coaches. That could be meaningful if teams have short training camps due to the lockout. Good luck to the Lions finishing the season on frozen tundra against the Packers. Detroit hasn’t won at Lambeau Field since 1991.

Lions Regular-Season Schedule (All times Eastern)
Week 1: Sunday, Sep. 11, at Tampa Bay, 1:00 PM
Week 2: Sunday, Sep. 18, Kansas City, 1:00 PM
Week 3: Sunday, Sep. 25, at Minnesota, 1:00 PM
Week 4: Sunday, Oct. 2, at Dallas, 1:00 PM
Week 5: Monday, Oct. 10, Chicago, 8:30 PM
Week 6: Sunday, Oct. 16, San Francisco, 1:00 PM
Week 7: Sunday, Oct. 23, Atlanta, 1:00 PM
Week 8: Sunday, Oct. 30, at Denver, 4:05 PM
Week 9: BYE
Week 10: Sunday, Nov. 13, at Chicago, 1:00 PM
Week 11: Sunday, Nov. 20, Carolina, 1:00 PM
Week 12: Thursday, Nov. 24, Green Bay, 12:30 PM
Week 13: Sunday, Dec. 4, at New Orleans, 1:00 PM
Week 14: Sunday, Dec. 11, Minnesota, 1:00 PM
Week 15: Sunday, Dec. 18, at Oakland, 4:05 PM
Week 16: Saturday, Dec. 24, San Diego, 4:05 PM
Week 17: Sunday, Jan. 1, at Green Bay, 1:00 PM

Detroit is 35/1 to win Super Bowl XLVI – bet on NFL futures now at Bodog Sportsbook!

This move may have just killed a lot of bets and a lot of players in the Bodog 2011 Mock Draft Contest.

Washington quarterback Jake Locker had played himself into the first round with solid combine performances and great interviews, but to be the second QB off the board? Ahead of Mizzouri’s Blaine Gabbert? This has a lot of NFL analysts scratching their head.

According to Pro Football Weekly draft analyst Nolan Nawrocki, Locker is a better fit for new Titans offensive coordinator Chris Palmer's offense. What has analysts skeptical of Locker over Gabbert is Locker’s 55.4 percent completion percentage as a Huskie senior. Generally a top 10 QB completes his passes at least 60 percent of the time. Obviously, the Titans believe Locker’s issues in his senior year were more about the talent around him and less about his QB play.

Oddsmakers in the Bodog Sportsbook are a bit shocked by this pick as well. Locker was a +200 underdog to go to the Titans at No. 8 while Nick Fairley, who went to the Lions at 13, was a -150 favorite.

Also the Total on where Locker would go in the draft was listed at Over/Under 23.5. Yeah, it was way Over.

The Titans have been looking for a new, young QB to groom after giving up on Vince Young. This kid is known as the “anti-Vince Young” by some NFL scouts.

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Let the trades begin.

The Atlanta Falcons obviously didn’t want quarterback Matt Ryan to force the ball to Roddy White all the time on Sundays, so they gave up a Ricky-Williams-like amount to get wide receiver Julio Jones out of Alabama. Reports are to grab the No. 6 pick from Cleveland Browns the Falcons gave up their 27th, 59th (2nd round), 124th (4th round), and the Falcons 1st and 4th picks in 2012.

Jones was a -175 favorite to be the big at No. 6 in the Bodog Sportsbook, and bettors who bet on Jones will win their bet regardless if it’s the Browns pick or the Falcons pick.

Jones was a beast for ‘Bama in his junior year, catching 78 balls for 1,133 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. The question on Jones is whether he can catch the ball consistently. Jones had some mental lapses in his college career in which he dropped some easy passes. However, with White around to show the rookie how to run the route tree in the NFL, he should be able to develop into a solid No. 2.

Though Jones was projected as being a top prospect, he and the Falcons will have a ton of pressure on them as they’ve essentially given up the remainder of this year’s draft and the top of next year’s draft to get someone besides White and a soon-to-be-retired Tony Gonzalez to throw to.

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This would’ve been a surprise at the beginning of the draft process, but not so much now.

Cam Newton did his best to dispel rumors about off the field issues and his deficiencies as a passer and it appears he did enough for the Carolina Panthers to make him the face of their franchise.

With the No. 1 pick, and therefore the worst record in the league, the Panthers needed to make a splash that would excite fans and give a boost the franchise, and they trust that Newton can be that guy.

Most players in Bodog’s Football Mock Draft Contest made Newton was going No. 1, and odds for the Auburn Tigers QB to go No. 1 overall came down fairly early, an indication that most bettors knew the Panthers had chosen their guy.

At Auburn Newton was named the 2010 Heisman Trophy winner with an electrifying senior season at quarterback. The 21-year-old junior threw for 2,854 passing yards with 30 touchdowns and ran for an uncanny 1,473 rushing yards with 20 touchdowns. One or the other would be a great season for any college player.

Time will tell whether Newton will be able to adapt to the NFL. Newton played in a spread offense with un-complicated play calls such as “36”, and was a one-read, running QB. There’s also speculation about his character after getting booted from the Florida Gators in 2007 for owning a stolen laptop.

We’ll see if he becomes an “entertainer and an icon."

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The New Orleans Saints were very aggressive in the first round of the NFL Draft on Thursday night, trading its 2012 first-round pick to the New England Patriots for the 28th spot in Round 1, in which the Saints took Alabama running back and former Heisman winner Mark Ingram. At that spot, it seems like a steal for the Saints as Ingram will take some of the load off of quarterback Drew Brees.

However, not everyone was happy about it. After the pick, Saints running back Reggie Bush, another former Heisman winner (although he had to give his back), tweeted, "It's been fun New Orleans." Bush might be right in that his days there are over. He has not lived up to the billing as a former No. 2 overall pick and is owed nearly $12 million for next season – there’s no way the Saints pay him that amount. The Saints reportedly already have asked Bush to take a pay cut and he has declined.

Bush has been very good as a receiver and return man but is too brittle to be a featured back. He has played in only 60 of 80 regular-season games and missed eight games with a broken leg last season. He rushed for just 150 yards on 36 carries in 2010. The Saints finished 28th in the NFL in rushing last year, averaging just 94.9 yards.

For what it’s worth, Saints GM Mickey Loomis said drafting Ingram wasn't a sign that the team wants to jettison Bush. He said Bush is still in the team's plans, but certainly it would have to be at a lower price.

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