NFL Betting News at LinesMaker

Fox: Broncos to Bring in Some New Blood at QB Behind Tebow

Bron­cos coach John Fox said Mon­day that Den­ver will acquire two new quar­ter­backs for next sea­son, but Tim Tebow would still begin train­ing camp as the team’s starter. “Num­bers wise that’s accu­rate,” Fox said Mon­day, the Den­ver Post reported. “Who, what, where, when, what mar­ket — it’s still way too early how we get those quarterbacks.” Har­ri­son: Teach­ing Mr. Tebow The Bron­cos cur­rently have just two quar­ter­backs under con­tract for next sea­son, Tebow and Adam Weber. Weber was on the prac­tice squad last season. Tebow led the Bron­cos... 

Report: Pats, WR Welker Still in Holding Pattern in Negotiations

On the open­ing day for teams to use the fran­chise tag on play­ers, dis­cus­sions between the New Eng­land Patri­ots and free-agent-to-be wide­out Wes Welker report­edly remain at a standstill. La Can­fora: A game of tag There has yet to be a break­through in nego­ti­a­tions between the two par­ties for a long-term con­tract, a source told the Boston Her­ald on Monday. League sources told NFL Net­work insider Jason La Can­fora that the Patri­ots would not let Welker depart as a free agent. Welker has expressed his desire to remain in New Eng­land, telling reporters, via... 

Finley Franchise-Tag Fight Still Looms

Fin­ley franchise-tag fight still looms Posted by Mike Flo­rio on Feb­ru­ary 20, 2012, 4:46 PM EST We reported dur­ing the sea­son that the Pack­ers and tight end Jer­michael Fin­ley even­tu­ally could find them­selves in a fight regard­ing the ques­tion of whether, for the pur­poses of the fran­chise tag, Fin­ley is a tight end or a wide receiver. With the fran­chise ten­der for tight ends expected to be in the range of $ 5.4 mil­lion and the fran­chise ten­der for receivers expected to be in the range of $ 9.4 mil­lion, it’s a $ 4 mil­lion question. The... 

Eagles Use Combine as Means to Evaluate Prospects’ Health

The Philadel­phia Eagles will take note of the 40-yard dash times of the play­ers on the top of their draft board. They’ll file away the num­ber of bench press rep­e­ti­tions from those same play­ers, as well. May­ock: 2012 draft rankings But when the team’s front office descends upon Indi­anapo­lis for this week’s 2012 NFL Scout­ing Com­bine, it will do its best not to let any gaudy num­bers cloud its pre­con­ceived notions based off the player’s col­lege game film. “We’ll try to stick to where our board is now,” Eagles gen­eral man­ager Howie Rose­man said,... 

Avril Seeking ‘Security and Longevity’ From Lions

Defen­sive end Cliff Avril said Sat­ur­day that he’s open to hold­ing out if the Detroit Lions attempt to resolve his con­tract sit­u­a­tion by apply­ing the fran­chise tag. “There’s a lot of dif­fer­ent pos­si­bil­i­ties, and that’s one of the pos­si­bil­i­ties — not show­ing up,” Avril told the Detroit Free Press. “But we don’t know. That’s not the plan, obvi­ously. But there’s a lot of dif­fer­ent pos­si­bil­i­ties, and that’s def­i­nitely one of them.” The news­pa­per reported that Avril is likely seek­ing about $ 12 mil­lion a... 

Avril Seeking ‘Security and Longevity’ From Lions

Defen­sive end Cliff Avril said Sat­ur­day that he’s open to hold­ing out if the Detroit Lions attempt to resolve his con­tract sit­u­a­tion by apply­ing the fran­chise tag. “There’s a lot of dif­fer­ent pos­si­bil­i­ties, and that’s one of the pos­si­bil­i­ties — not show­ing up,” Avril told the Detroit Free Press. “But we don’t know. That’s not the plan, obvi­ously. But there’s a lot of dif­fer­ent pos­si­bil­i­ties, and that’s def­i­nitely one of them.” The news­pa­per reported that Avril is likely seek­ing about $ 12 mil­lion a... 

Mike Sherman Says the Dolphins Are Just a Couple Pieces Away

Mike Sher­man says the Dol­phins are just a cou­ple pieces away Posted by Michael David Smith on Feb­ru­ary 19, 2012, 4:48 PM EST New Dol­phins offen­sive coor­di­na­tor Mike Sher­man says he hasn’t joined the staff of a team in need of a major over­haul. Instead, he says, he thinks there’s already a lot of tal­ent in Miami and that all the Dol­phins need is a cou­ple of play­ers to put them over the top. “I watched the tape, and I don’t think we’re that far away,” Sher­man told the Miami Her­ald. “We’re miss­ing a cou­ple of pieces here and there but I... 

Cardinals’ Whisenhunt Reiterates QBs Kolb, Skelton Will Compete

Ari­zona Car­di­nals coach Ken Whisen­hunt has main­tained since the end of last sea­son he wants com­pe­ti­tion for every posi­tion on his team. That includes quar­ter­back, where Whisen­hunt said last week he will let Kevin Kolb and John Skel­ton com­pete for the start­ing job. 2012-s notable free agents Whisen­hunt believes that even­tu­ally a front-runner will emerge. “Both guys are going to get oppor­tu­ni­ties because John cer­tainly deserves it from the way that he played over the back half of the sea­son and Kevin cer­tainly deserves it from the rea­son that... 

Olympic Sprinter Teaching NFL Prospects Proper Technique

MARTINSVILLE, N.J. — Other than spe­cial team­ers, wide receivers and the guys who cover them, foot­ball play­ers rarely break into a sprint. Yet every prospect com­ing out of col­lege, from the slip­pery scat­back to the behe­moth line­men, is mea­sured on his abil­ity to cover 40 yards more quickly than his peers. With so much rid­ing on those play­ers’ times at pri­vate work­outs, pro days and, most espe­cially, the NFL com­bine, it makes sense to train them to run as fast as the wind. Or, in the case of the 330-pounders, a stiff breeze. May­ock: 2012 draft rankings Teach­ing... 

Panthers’ Davis, Beason Optimistic After Season-Ending Injuries

Every time Car­olina Pan­thers line­backer Thomas Davis steps inside the train­ing facil­ity at Bank of Amer­ica Sta­dium, there’s one thing on his mind: Mak­ing history. Davis tore the ante­rior cru­ci­ate lig­a­ment in his right knee in Week 2 of the 2011 sea­son for a third time in just a 23-month span, and Pan­thers trainer Ryan Ver­mil­lion recently told the Char­lotte Observer that no player in NFL his­tory has come back from three ACL surg­eries on the same knee. It’s Davis’ goal to become the first. “Every day I go in I’m look­ing at it like I’m mak­ing...