On Sunday, Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward, signed a five year contract extension which will allow Hines to finish up his career as a Pittsburgh Steeler. Ward who is now 33 years old can’t say now how many more years his body can take the beating but the contract last through 2013 season. Ward will receive 22 million over the next five years and agreed to spread out his signing bonus for salary-cap purposes. Ward was a third round draft pick out of Georgia back in 1998 and has the Steelers record with 800 career catches. Hines is only 220 yards away from reaching the 10,000 yard career mark. 

This weekend, the NFL Draft will be happening and it’s going to be very exciting. This is the time that some teams are able to reinvent themselves, get a franchise player or a chip to bargain with other teams with. This year, of course, Detroit has the number 1 pick, since they didn’t win any games. Everyone seems to think that they will pick a Mr. Matthew Stafford, a talented quarterback from Georgia. He is one of the best players in the draft this year, and has a surprising amount of dexterity, whether throwing or running, inside or outside the pocket. The Lions would be doing very well to get him, perhaps get some more life on the team and bring them back into actual contention. Keep up with the draft this weekend!

The Cardinals might be looking to deal Anquan Boldin? We hadn’t realized this, but it turns out that it’s true! There is a report on NFL.com that the Baltimore Ravens are holding back from taking Boldin, because the Cardinals’ price tag is higher than they’re willing to pay at the moment. They would, however, be willing to give a first-round pick or a second round pick and a player, according to the reports. It would be interesting to see Boldin in Balitimore, because the Ravens have been getting stronger again in recent years. In the end, it’s going to be a bit of a trick for the Arizona team to hold down their side of the NFL if they don’t have Boldin anymore. Bolding was a major part of their almost-championship run this year, so maybe next time!

           For the 2008-2009 season did not turn out so well for the Detroit Lyons, who finished in last place going 0-16. The good news for the Lyons is that they have the number #1 overall draft pick for the 2009-2010 season. With a pick that this, there is no telling to what the Lyons will do because of the number of options to choose from. Most Lyons fans would agree that the Lyons first draft choice should be a quarterback and the Lyons franchise seems to agree with them. In this years draft the Lyons have the first, third, and sixth round picks that they acquired from Dallas with the trade of Roy Williams. The two likely quarterback candidates that the Lyons are looking at is, USC’s Mark Sanchez and Georgia’s Matthew Stafford. Most experts expect Georgia’s Matthew Stafford to be the Lyons number #1 overall draft picks. On April 24, 2009 will all find out if the experts were right? 

Harry Kalas passed away yesterday. The long-time announcer for NFL films was found passed out in his MLB broadcast booth yesterday and was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. You would recognize his voice if you heard it right now. You have heard it in the NFL Super Bowl films and did voiceover for Inside the NFL for many years. He appeared drawn last week during the opening week ceremonies and had an operation earlier this year for an unstated illness that was characterized as minor. Kalas’s was an iconic voice that, for many people, was the narrative voice of the NFL. He will be missed.

This week Buffalo Bills new wide receiver, Terrell Owens starts preseason voluntary workouts with his teammates. Owens believes that there has been way to much unfair criticism of him not being more involved in participating with his teams previous offseason voluntary workouts. Owens from the start had informed the team that he did not have any indentation on being involved with any of the team’s preseason voluntary workouts. Since joining his team this week, Owens has been on the field running pass routes learning his knew team’s offense and has been participating in the team’s workout regiment. Owens also made it clear in a press conference this week that he had full intentions on being at the Buffalo Bills mandatory minicamp and that he will be participating in the team’s OTA sessions.

Last week, the New York Giants, the previous year’s Super Bowl champions, released Plaxico Burress. “Laxico” shot himself in the leg in a nightclub last fall in some kind of an altercation and so he is in a lot of legal trouble now, because New York City, where the nightclub was located, has very strong rules against handguns and such. He was released from his contract with the Giants, but the team ended up in a dispute with the player over the bonuses that he felt he had earned, but that no one else thought he had. Ultimately the team will be required to pay most of those bonuses, because that’s what the contract is designed to say. Nothing about shooting onesself, it turns out.

Who wants Michael Vick to play again? Many people seem to, but there are lots of people who really don’t think he deserves to be in his place. He has given an apology in the last couple of days saying that he will be out of the dogfighting ring. He said that his dogfighting days were awful. And he regrets what he did. He also has a plan for what he’s going to do once the whole thing is over. He has a construction job all ready to go and hopes that he will be able to get back into the NFL again. This has been his life so far and he wants to play again. But it’s a big question which team would willingly take him at this point. It’s a kind of tragic story, but these are the consequences of what you do as a public figure.