NFL Betting News at LinesMaker

Patriots’ Wes Welker, Willie McGinest Engage in Twitter Spat

Wes Welker isn’t hes­i­tant to stand up for him­self when he believes he has been wronged. He first proved that when he announced he likely won’t attend the New Eng­land Patri­ots’ manda­tory June mini­camp if he hasn’t received the long-term deal he deserves. Now he has found another fight to pick — this time against ex-Patriots line­backer and cur­rent NFL Net­work ana­lyst Willie McGinest. McGinest said Tues­day on NFL Net­work that he didn’t “like the diva atti­tude” com­ing from Welker, adding: “Let’s keep it real. Prior to the Patri­ots, this is a guy who... 

Atlanta Falcons, Philadelphia Eagles Complete Asante Samuel Trade

The deal to send cor­ner­back Asante Samuel to the Atlanta Fal­cons from the Philadel­phia Eagles has been final­ized, a source with knowl­edge of the sit­u­a­tion told NFL Network’s Albert Breer. It’s not yet known what the Fal­cons will send the Eagles in return for the nine-year veteran. Samuel and the Fal­cons have agreed to terms on a three-year, $ 18.5 mil­lion deal. Fol­low Albert Breer on Twit­ter @AlbertBreer BetLM's sports betting news features unique sports betting articles as well as current sports news compiled from leading wire services. This arti­cle was dis­trib­uted by Syn­di­cated Sports news wire and aggre­ga­tion ser­vice, For more NFL news see: Atlanta Fal­cons, Philadel­phia... 

Green Bay Packers Team Needs

GREEN BAY (NFL/Florio) — The Super Bowl champs in 2010 and the top seed in the NFC after the 2011 reg­u­lar sea­son, the Pack­ers are built to con­tend once again in 2012. Led by a G.M. who has lit­tle appetite for vet­eran free agency, it’s impor­tant that they keep mak­ing good deci­sions in the draft, in order to ensure that the team will con­tinue to con­tend on a year-in, year-out basis. Espe­cially since the Pack­ers have a few glar­ing holes that need to be filled in the short term. Defen­sive end: The Pack­ers let Cullen Jenk­ins walk away in free agency last year,... 

Steve Smith: Saints Player Admitted He Targeted Me

Car­olina Pan­thers wide receiver Steve Smith wasn’t sur­prised at all when the New Orleans Saints’ bounty pro­gram came to light this off­sea­son. The long­time NFC South rival said he’s “always known” Gregg Williams’ defenses try to hurt oppos­ing players. “I actu­ally had an alter­ca­tion with a guy who told me first­hand,” Smith said Tues­day on NFL.com’s “Dave Dameshek Foot­ball Pro­gram,” although he didn’t name the Saints player. “I was going out of bounds, and the guy went for my ankle. I said, ‘Hey, man, cut that out.’ He’s like, ‘Well,... 

Law Enforcement Investigates Mickey Loomis

New Orleans (NFL/Newsfeed) — State and fed­eral law offi­cials have opened an inves­ti­ga­tion to deter­mine if New Orleans Saints gen­eral man­ager Mickey Loomis vio­lated wire­tap­ping laws after alle­ga­tions that a rigged device in his sta­dium suite allowed him to lis­ten to oppos­ing coaches’ conversations. “The FBI invited us to come into their inves­ti­ga­tion,” Col. Mike Edmon­son, super­in­ten­dent of the Louisiana State Police, said Tues­day. “We assigned a trooper that works with the FBI to fol­low their inves­ti­ga­tion. These are alle­ga­tions... 

Wireless Encryption Not Relevant to Loomis Accusation

New Orleans (NFL/Florio) — In the wake of Monday’s stun­ning ESPN report that Saints G.M. Mickey Loomis had for three sea­sons the capa­bil­ity to lis­ten to com­mu­ni­ca­tions among the oppos­ing team’s assis­tant coaches dur­ing games played at the Super­dome, some have sug­gested that Loomis wouldn’t have been able to accom­plish this feat due to the encryp­tion of the wire­less fre­quen­cies used at NFL stadiums. “It is impos­si­ble to do,” a Saints source told CBSSports.com. “Plus the NFL fre­quency coor­di­na­tor would know and he knows every sig­nal... 

Tim Tebow to Talk ‘Faith and Football’ at Christian University

CINCINNATI — New York Jets quar­ter­back Tim Tebow will talk about “faith and foot­ball” to a packed house at Cincin­nati Chris­t­ian University. School spokesman Steve Carr said some 2,000 peo­ple are expected to hear Tebow on Tues­day in a dis­cus­sion in the school gym and at an evening fundrais­ing banquet. Recently traded to the Jets from Den­ver, Tebow is known for late-game hero­ics and his pub­lic asser­tions of Chris­t­ian faith. Carr said donors cov­ered the cost of bring­ing the Heis­man Tro­phy win­ner to the school. He declined to give details, but said... 

Ross: Ireland Has Final Say in Dolphins’ Draft

Jeff Ire­land went on the record Mon­day to char­ac­ter­ize Miami Dol­phins owner Stephen Ross as an intel­li­gent busi­ness­man who’s pas­sion­ate about the work­ings of his team. Ire­land, a gen­eral man­ager con­sis­tently under fire this off­sea­son, told PFT Live how it works down on South Beach. Ross gives ideas, even sug­ges­tions, but not demands. Shortly after Ire­land appeared on the show, Ben Volin of The Palm Beach Post reported the exact opposite: Along those lines, SI’s Peter King reported “Ross wants the quarterback.” The owner him­self finally chimed... 

Denver Broncos’ Brian Dawkins Tweets He Will Retire From NFL

Vet­eran safety Brian Dawkins is retir­ing from the NFL after 16 sea­sons with the Philadel­phia Eagles and Den­ver Bron­cos, the Pro Bowl defender announced Mon­day on Twitter. ATL: Dawkins a rare breed “The Lord has blessed me to play in the NFL for 16 years,” Dawkins said. “I would like to thank the Eagles & the Bron­cos 4 believ­ing In me. I would like 2 thank all my team­mates & Coaches that I have been blessed 2 go to bat­tle with. Along with u, the fans 4 help­ing make my career 1 that i have enjoyed tremen­dously. In other words. I am announc­ing my retire­ment... 

Ryan Tannehill Coveted by Dolphins’ Stephen Ross

Miami Dol­phins owner Stephen Ross, not offen­sive coor­di­na­tor Mike Sher­man or gen­eral man­ager Jeff Ire­land, is the dri­ving force behind the team’s inter­est in select­ing Texas A&M quar­ter­back Ryan Tan­nehill with the No. 8 over­all pick in this week’s NFL draft, a league source told ProFootballTalk.com on Sunday. Sher­man, who joined the Dol­phins this off­sea­son, was Tannehill’s col­lege coach at Texas A&M. But it’s Ross who’s mak­ing the push, the source said. Later Sun­day, how­ever, a source with the Dol­phins sent an e-mail to the Miami...