GM A.J. Smith must have jumped the gun when the San Diego Chargers said they would tender running back Darren Sproles for the coming season. The Chargers announced today that in fact they were going to put a 1st and third round tender on Sproles for next season. It is unlikely any other team in the NFL will be able to sign the 26-year-old with the tender. Sproles will make around $7.27 million next season, a hefty price tag for a player that’s never rushed for more than 343 yards in a season. The six-year pro is a duel threat out of the back field catching 45 balls and scoring eight touchdowns in total in 2009. Prior to the Chargers tender offer, Sproles was thought to be in talks with a number of teams.

With a 10-3 deficit at halftime and about as many total offensive yards as yards penalized, the Carolina Panthers’ situation seemed pretty bleak. Things worsened shortly into the 3rd quarter when the Bears’ offense widened the gap with another touchdown. The sunny day in Carolina seemed to be able to do little for the gloomy faces of the Panthers’ fans.

Momentum, however, switched dramatically when Jake Delhomme scrambled for a 6 yard run that setup a field goal in the closing minutes of the 3rd quarter. It wasn’t so much the run itself that sparked the momentum shift, but rather the hit Delhomme took from Lance Briggs while sliding down. Instead of taking the hit and becoming fearful of the Bears’ defense, Delhomme instead used that to invigorate his team and go into full-attack mode.

It worked.

The Panthers became a new team. Both the offense and defense clicked. The defense forced a critical fumble from the normally sure hands of Greg Olsen, subsequently leading to a Panthers offensive touchdown. The offense, led by rookie running back Jonathon Stewart, picked apart the stoic Bears “mug” defense en route to a 20-17 victory. This makes two come-from-behind victories for the Panthers this season.

After a brush with a chainsaw left a cut on his index finger, Dolphin quarterback Josh McCown needed six stitches. After being on a six week recovery process, McCown is expected to be fit before the start of training camp next week, reports agent Mike McCartney. McCown has vowed not to touch a chainsaw again. McCown was signed for a two year $6.25M contract this February. He has his eyes set on becoming the 13th starting quarterback after Miami’s Dan Marino retired. He will be competing with John Beck and Chad Henne for the bid. This will be a very exciting season for the Dolphins, and the fans already have their tickets to show their support.

Jonathan Mapu, the undrafted defensive tackle and a rookie player, has been signed by the Washington Redskins football team at the expense of wide receiver Jerome Mathis. The decision was taken after the Redskins took a good look at the native Hawaiian player during his brief stint at the minicamp from May 2-4. Mapu, at 6-4 and 290 pounds, has played for the Tennessee University for four seasons and has a record of 32 solo tackles out of a total of 65, three sacks, two fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles to his credit. The Redskins fans are expecting that this rookie player will deliver the goods when his time comes to represent the Redskins team.

There are likely going to be a lot of variations in the free agency signing period as there were few discussions and deliberations that have happened in the National Football League annual meeting at Palm Beach, Florida. The reports that have filtered through the meeting of the NFL is that there will be potential changes in the free agency signing period announced after the May 20th and 21st NFL meeting at Atlanta.

The NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is the one who has taken upon himself the job of cleaning up the National Football League and it is his idea of free agency cessation that has been discussed in the annual meeting of the NFL. Many of the free agency agents believe that a change has to be made to the existing policies of free agency and the new policies framed will be able to help a club to dwell on a lot of ways by which they can keep a free agent player in their team itself.

Nick Hardwick, the center for the Chargers, has undergone an operation on his foot that set right the foot injury that has been bothering him during the last six games of the 2007 football season. Hardwick had to sit out of four matches last year due to the foot injury and the foot specialist he consulted advised him to carry on playing if he did not feel much pain. Hardwick hoped that his foot would get better by taking some rest after the 2007 season, but that was not the case. Hence, on consultation with another foot specialist he decided to undergo the surgery.

Hardwick had been advised to take complete rest for a couple of months and the doctors have said that it would take at least four to six months for him to recover. Hardwick said that he would now concentrate and put his focus on getting better as soon as possible and said that he was not able to undergo the surgery immediately after the playoffs.

Terelle Pryor, the most reputed quarterback footballer in high school has been called upon to play for the Ohio State University and was instrumental in leading his school, Jeannette High School, to WPIAL and PIAA football championships. The Buckeyes were very happy that Terelle had chosen Ohio State as his football home and the coach, Jim Tressel, said that the future is very bright for Pryor.

His record speaks volume of the command he has over his game and his career so far has yielded 4,340 passing yards and 4,238 rushing yards. He was selected both as a junior as well as a senior player of the year by Pittsburgh Post Gazette and also by The Pittsburgh Tribune review. He has also won the High School player of the year title from USA Today, PrepNation, Superprep, EA Sports, Parade and many more. He is also a very capable basketball player, but his passion for football has made him sign with the Ohio State University.

The Green Bay Packers and their fans are not surprised by the announcement made by Mark Murphy, the Packers CEO, about the retirement of the No. 4 jersey, the favorite of their Quarterback Brett Favre, who has announced his retirement during a press conference on March 6th. Mark said that it was a pretty easy decision to retire the Jersey No. 4 considering Brett’s contributions to the team as well as to NFL as a whole.

Murphy is not sure about the date of the retirement ceremony but is sure to honor Favre in a well deserving manner. Murphy said that the date will be fixed seeking the convenience of the Packers as well as Favre’s. Murphy hopes that the day of retirement will be a great day in the history of Green Bay Packers. The earlier players who received the honor were Tony Canadeo No. 3; Don Hutson No. 14, Bart Starr No. 15, Ray Nitschke No. 66, and Reggie white No. 92.

The New York Jets have recently signed unrestricted free agent right back Chatman from the Miami Dolphins to play for them this season. The signing of Jesse Chatman was made public by the Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum. Jesse was an in-form player for the Miami Dolphins last season and he had recorded career highs in receptions, receiving yards as well as rushing yards for the Dolphins in 2007. He recorded 124 rushing yards against the Buffalo’s in a game last season and had made 27 carries as well in that game. Jesse has played in the NFL for the past five seasons.

Jesse Chatman’s career statics are: five touchdowns, 37 receptions for a distance of 276 yards and 207 carries in 943 yards. He has earned 56 starts in the total of 55 career games and majority of his achievements have come for the special teams. Chatman came into the NFL scene in 2002 playing with the Chargers and was signed by the Dolphins as a free agent in 2005. He got traded to the Saints in October of 2005 and did not play the entire season of 2006. The New York Jets have signed a total of five unrestricted free agents so far.

Quarterback Brett Favre announced his retirement formally in a press conference at the Lambeau Field last Thursday. By announcing his retirement, Favre ended his 17 year stint at the NFL and was considered to be the most exciting signal callers in the annals of NFL football. His career record stands at 61,555 yards, 160 wins, 5,377 completions, 442 touchdowns and 8,758 attempts. Green Bay Packers general manager, Ted Thompson, said that Favre has had one of the greatest successful careers in the history of NFL and was able to quit the game when he wanted to call it quits, which is a rare phenomenon in NFL.

He has played for the Packers for 16 long years and has given tremendous satisfaction to the Packers fans with his wonderful game. The Super Bowl Championship is the icing in the cake that the Packers fans will not forgot that easily. The Packers quarterback leaves behind a record of 253 consecutive starts for his team that will not be that easily broken. Favre is the NFL’s only player to be a three time MVP and has taken the Packers team to 11 playoff appearances. His hard working capacity and down to earth approach has made him a favorite player among football fans throughout the nation and this probably explains why he was voted as the people’s favorite player in the Harris poll of 2007.