Pats CB Bodden itching to play after missing last season

New England Patriots cornerback Leigh Bodden said he's "firing on all cylinders" and ready to get back on the field after his 2010 season was wiped out due to torn rotator cuff surgery.

After six seasons with the Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions, Leigh Bodden is anxious to get back on the field with the playoff-caliber Patriots. (Elise Amendola/Associated Press)

"I can’t wait to get out there," Bodden told the Boston Herald in a story for Sunday's editions. "Whenever everything is said and done, I’ll be ready."

With the shoulder injury he suffered last preseason behind him, the seven-year veteran has been working out in Los Angeles during the NFL lockout.

Bodden signed a four-year, $22 million contract with the Patriots last year, only to see the team invest a first-round pick on cornerback Devin McCourty in 2010 and a second-rounder on Ras-I Dowling this past month.

Bodden isn't threatened by coach Bill Belichick's decision to stock up on defensive backs in an increasingly pass-happy league.

"Me going down this past year. Then (Jonathan) Wilhite went down. I remember those guys telling me, in some of those games, we dressed only three corners. That’s something you just can’t have. You need depth at that position.

"Bill knows what he’s doing with his draft picks. He knows what he wants. You never can have too many cornerbacks in this league. Teams have three, four legit wide receivers, so you have to be prepared for that. Having an extra cornerback is not wrong in my opinion."

Bodden spent five seasons with the Cleveland Browns and one with the Detroit Lions before joining the Patriots in 2009. He started 14 games for New England that season and registered 55 tackles and five interceptions.

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Young gun in town: QB Kaepernick joins 49ers workouts

The San Francisco 49ers welcomed a new face this week with the arrival of rookie signal-caller Colin Kaepernick, who threw to teammates at player-only workouts in the San Jose area, according to The Sacramento Bee on Friday.

Kaepernick first joined Wednesday's practice, but The Bee said Friday's passing session marked his most intense activity yet since undergoing a procedure on his left leg after the 49ers selected him in the second round of last month's draft.

Kaepernick is the second 49ers rookie to work out with veterans after receiver Ronald Johnson, a sixth-round pick, practiced with teammates for 10 days soon after the draft.

It's been suggested that the strong-armed, fleet-footed Kaepernick will find his way into the 49ers' attack, even if he sits behind Alex Smith, who also has actively attended workouts during the NFL lockout, along with 14 other teammates. The Bee reports that Smith has been joined by defensive linemen Isaac Sopoaga and Justin Smith, offensive linemen Joe Staley and Adam Snyder, and receivers Kevin Jurovich and Josh Morgan.

Kaepernick earlier received a copy of the 49ers playbook from a teammate, but is unable to communicate with San Francisco's coaching staff during the lockout. He planned reach out to Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, who played under new 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh for the previous three seasons.

As for Kaepernick, the newspaper reports that it's not only the playbook and his new team he's getting used to -- the rookie just made the move from his parents house in Turlock, Calif. to the Bay Area.

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Gaither's back 'feeling great'; OT eyes return to lineup

Agent Drew Rosenhaus says his client Jared Gaither, the hulking 6-foot-9, 340-pound offensive tackle who missed all last season for the Baltimore Ravens with an upper back injury, has made a full recovery.

"Jared Gaither's back is totally healed," Rosenhaus tweeted Saturday. "He's had a great offseason and will have a bounce back yr. He's back to full strength & ready to go."

"Basically, I'm cleared," Gaither confirmed to the Carroll County Times. "I just have to be cleared by the ballclub and take that physical. I'm doing a lot better. I'm feeling great. I can't wait for next season."

Despite Gaither's rehabilitation, his status with the team is in limbo after spending most of last season on injured reserve -- and the lingering NFL lockout only muddies those waters.

Under last year's rules, Gaither stands as a restricted free agent. Under a new collective bargaining agreement, the four-year veteran could be an unrestricted free agent, in which case the team is unlikely to furnish him a lucrative contract with injury red flags waving, the Times reported.

"I have no control over that, and I just hope everything gets worked out," Gaither told the Times after last season, saying he's leaving his contract status for Rosenhaus to figure out. "However that works out, if they do tender me or don't, there's not that much I can do about that. I'm prepared for anything. You just don't know what's going to happen."

Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome is taking a wait-and-see approach to Gaither's future, noting that as a restricted free agent, Gaither would remain part of the team and "if he's healthy, he'd get a chance to come back and start."

Gaither's started 28 games for the Ravens since being selected in the fifth round 2007 NFL Supplemental Draft, most all of them at left tackle, where he's comfortable playing. Despite the emergence of Michael Oher at that position, Gaither told the Times it matters to him to stick in the spot that feels like home.

"Yeah, it does," Gaither said. "I've been playing left tackle my whole career. It wouldn't make much sense to change now and get a whole new position underway at this point in time."

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Edwards keeping pledge to cover students' college tuition

NEW YORK -- Braylon Edwards has made good on a promise he made a few years ago by sending 100 Cleveland-area students to college.

The New York Jets wide receiver tweeted Thursday that "as the 2nd most hated man in Clev & a man of my word," he was honoring his commitment to pay for the students' college tuitions if they reached certain academic goals.

Edwards is giving about $1 million to the students from the ADVANCE 100 program, established by the receiver's foundation while he played for the Cleveland Browns.

"Guys, enjoy and embrace your new beginnings," Edwards tweeted, "and remember your promise to me, to reach back & help someone else along the way."

Edwards is scheduled to be a free agent, but he repeatedly has said he wants to stay with the Jets.

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press

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Bucs' Winslow aims to play with 'leader' Freeman until the end

It didn't take long for Josh Freeman to win over his Tampa Bay Buccaneers teammates.

Quarterback Josh Freeman has emerged as the Bucs' clear-cut leader this offseason. (Kim Klement/US Presswire)

The young quarterback has taken charge during the NFL lockout by organizing his own player-only practices in Tampa. 

He made a special request of veteran tight end Kellen Winslow, who spent last offseason rehabbing in Southern California, to be present at the workouts. Winslow didn't hesitate.

"There is no question he is the leader of this football team," Winslow told The Tampa Tribune this week.

Said Winslow: "He's the dude. I'm not leaving him. If it's my decision, I'm never leaving him. I want to play with him until he retires. I wouldn't want to play with anybody else."

Freeman's daily workouts have brought in more than 30 Bucs, something coach Raheem Morris is thrilled about from a distance while forbidden from communicating with his players during the lockout.

"I'm fired up for Freeman," Morris said. "That's the type of leader we brought here and I had no doubt in my mind he would be doing that type of thing. It's not shocking to me. It's kind of expected from the standpoint of business as usual for that guy."

Freeman repeatedly brought his team back in tight games last season, throwing 25 touchdown passes and just six interceptions while guiding the Bucs to a 10-win campaign and narrowly missing the playoffs.

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Following his 2009 rookie season, Freeman made the decision to embrace his leadership role, according to The Tribune. He logged hours with Bucs coaches, watching film daily and learning the position.

"I took it upon myself to have no reason not to be a leader," Freeman said. "I wanted to take that role upon myself. You have to step in and do the work. As a leader, you have to clean up your yard before you start talking about other people's yards. I made sure to have all my stuff in order.

"I was hoping to put a good product on the field. Guys followed that. If I'm not playing good football or taking care of business, how can I be a leader? I just feel like it's my job as a quarterback to take care of business."

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Bucs coach Morris waves off differences with Bengals' Lewis

If there was bad blood between Bengals coach Marvin Lewis and Buccaneers coach Raheem Morris last season, the men appear to have left it on the field.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reported Saturday that Lewis was angry with Tampa Bay for signing rookie wideout Dezmon Briscoe to its practice squad last September, after the Bengals released the 2010 sixth-round pick in hopes he would wind up on their practice squad.

But Briscoe chose the Bucs over the Bengals because Tampa Bay offered him the rookie minimum of about $325,000, favorable to the roughly $100,000 practice squad contract the Bengals planned to field.

Hearing that Lewis was upset, Morris told reporters at the time that Lewis would be wise to focus on his own team's affairs, fueling speculation that the two were on shaky turf leading up to Week 5's Bucs-Bengals game, which Tampa Bay won 24-21. 

Morris appeared at the Marvin Lewis Golf Classic last week and rejected the notion of problems between the two.

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"That's business, this is about the community and the bigger picture," Morris said. "It's not about whether you have a disagreement on the field or whether I like him on game day.

"I wanted to come in for Marvin and be supportive of him because he's always been supportive of me."

Morris spoke of his respect for Lewis: "When you talk about guys that paved the way not only for coaches but young African-American coaches, he's been a consummate leader.

"To be here as long as he's been here and be a leader in the league as far as rules committee, that's one of those guys that you want to follow after and do the right things. If you keep following that path you have a chance."

The 6-foot-2, 207-pound Briscoe ended up playing in Tampa Bay's final two games, catching six passes for 93 yards and a touchdown.

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Johnson: Palmer should go if he doesn't want to be a Bengal

Tank Johnson calls Carson Palmer's threat to retire "definitely serious," and he agrees with teammate Cedric Benson that if the quarterback isn't willing to give his all, the Cincinnati Bengals have no use for him.

And that, Johnson says, hardly is the only chemistry issue for the team. The other problem: reality TV stars/wide receivers Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens. The Bengals' veteran defensive tackle told Sirius XM NFL Radio that their presence in training camp last year had a negative impact.

"When we got Chad and T.O. coming off their TV circuit right into our training camp, I mean, that just put a big cloud over a bunch of humble guys," Johnson said Thursday night. "And I'm not saying anything to take away from Chad and T.O.'s offseason adventures, because, hey, if they want you on TV, be on TV, but it just really clouded a bunch of humble guys."

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Palmer's situation has been another dark cloud, and Benson, a Bengals running back who's scheduled to become a free agent when the NFL lockout is over, earlier this month charged that the team should cut ties with the quarterback and that keeping him would be "detrimental to the team."

"If he's there and not happy," Benson said, "he's not going to give us his best."

Said Johnson: "In terms of what (Benson) said about Carson, I mean, he's absolutely right. There's no way that you can bring that kind of energy into the locker room. I mean, if a guy doesn't want to be there, let him go."

Palmer, who last season passed for 3,970 yards and 26 touchdowns but also matched a career high with 20 interceptions, announced shortly after the conclusion of the Bengals' 4-12 season that he wanted out or he would retire. Bengals owner Mike Brown said at the NFL Spring Meeting earlier this week that "we don't plan to trade Carson."

"He's important to us. He's a very fine player, and we do want him to come back," Brown said. "If he chooses not to, he'd retire. And we would go with Andy Dalton, the younger player we drafted, who's a good prospect. Ideally, we'd have both of them. That'd be the best way to go forward. If we don't have Carson, we'll go with Andy."

Johnson said he wouldn't be surprised in Palmer is through.

"I don't think Carson's a guy who likes to come out in the media and put himself kind of on the stage if he's not serious," Johnson said. "I've known Carson all the way since we played in the Pac-10 together" -- Palmer at USC, Johnson at Washington -- "and I haven't known him to be much of a jokester, so I'm thinking he's pretty serious."

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