NFL Betting News at LinesMaker

Tim Tebow Will Start for New York Jets, Von Miller Says

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Just because they’re no longer team­mates doesn’t mean Von Miller is any less a fan of Tim Tebow, whom he pre­dicts will be the New York Jets’ start­ing quar­ter­back in 2012. The Bron­cos pass-rusher and NFL defen­sive Rookie of the Year was one of Tebow’s staunchest sup­port­ers last sea­son when the pop­u­lar but polar­iz­ing quar­ter­back sup­planted Kyle Orton as Denver’s starter. Miller said Mon­day that he under­stands why the Bron­cos went after Pey­ton Man­ning and then traded Tebow, whom he pre­dicts will sup­plant Mark Sanchez as... 

Stokley Moves Closer to a Reunion With Peyton Manning

Well, Bran­don Stok­ley pos­si­bly will get his reward for all the pos­i­tive things he said last month about the sta­tus of Pey­ton Manning’s arm and the qual­ity of his throws. As expected, the Bron­cos may be sign­ing Stok­ley. Jason La Can­fora of NFL Net­work reports that Stok­ley, who lives in Den­ver, will visit with the Bron­cos. He could even­tu­ally re-join the team. Stok­ley, who turns 36 in June, is a 13-year vet­eran who spent three sea­sons with Man­ning in Indy and three with the Bron­cos. When Man­ning vis­ited the Bron­cos in early March, he threw... 

Union Reportedly Had Williams Audio, Strategizing for Players

Prior to audio of for­mer New Orleans Saints defen­sive coor­di­na­tor Gregg Williams going pub­lic April 4, the NFL Play­ers Asso­ci­a­tion already had detailed knowl­edge of Williams’ speech a day before January’s play­off game against the San Fran­cisco 49ers, ESPN.com reported Mon­day, cit­ing sources. For­mer Saints line­backer Scott Fujita, who’s now with the Cleve­land Browns and is a mem­ber of the union’s exec­u­tive com­mit­tee, pro­vided the NFLPA with the details of Williams’ speech and the tape that inde­pen­dent film­maker Sean Pam­philon made... 

NFL Requests Gregg Williams Audio, Sean Pamphilon Says

Film­maker Sean Pam­philon told on Sun­day that the NFL has asked for his audio record­ing of for­mer New Orleans Saints defen­sive coor­di­na­tor Gregg Williams urg­ing his play­ers to tar­get oppo­nents before a play­off game last season. Har­ri­son: Coach Power Rankings Pam­philon told the web­site that the league called him “four times on Fri­day” ask­ing for the audio. He said he expects the tapes to be subpoenaed. The NFL indef­i­nitely sus­pended Williams, now the St. Louis Rams’ defen­sive coor­di­na­tor, for oper­at­ing a bounty pro­gram that rewarded... 

Rowdie Ejected Fans Face Test Before Returing to Another Game

The next time a fan gets kicked out of a National Foot­ball League sta­dium for being unruly they’ll have to take a $ 75 four-hour online class and pass a code-of-conduct test to get back in. Reuter: Second-best RB prospect? “We’re not try­ing to squash anyone’s pas­sion. We’re just try­ing to say don’t be vio­lent,” Dr. Ari Novick, a licensed psy­chother­a­pist who devel­oped the idea, told the New York Post. Sta­dium require­ments will vary across the league but most of the time a booted fan will be required to pass the con­duct test, Novick said. At MetLife Sta­dium,... 

49ers Plan to Bid on Super Bowl L

The 50th Super Bowl may not be return­ing to the city in which the first edi­tion of the game was played, but it could be head­ing back to the same state. With L.A. still a long way away from build­ing a new NFL-suitable sta­dium and the folks in San Fran­cisco close to break­ing ground on a new build­ing in Santa Clara, the 49ers plan to sub­mit a bid for Super Bowl L, accord­ing to Matt Bar­rows of the Sacra­mento Bee. The 49ers will bid for Super Bowl LI, if unsuc­cess­ful in the pur­suit of Super Bowl L. The league is expected deter­mine the loca­tion of the 50th Super Bowl,... 

Tim Tebow’s Charity Auction Features $100K Bid to Hang With QB

An uniden­ti­fied bid­der spent $ 100,000 on Fri­day in a char­ity auc­tion for the right to spend a day with New York Jets quar­ter­back Tim Tebow, accord­ing to the St. Augus­tine Record. Rapoport: Pres­i­dent Tim Tebow? Tebow was par­tic­i­pat­ing in the Tim Tebow Foun­da­tion Celebrity Golf Clas­sic at TPC Saw­grass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. this week­end. The event included a gala Fri­day night, at which the dona­tion was made. The money will go to sup­port the Tim Tebow Foundation. “It was incred­i­ble,” Tebow told the news­pa­per. “It’s hum­bling.... 

New York Giants Owner John Mara Envisions End to Kickoffs

New York Giants owner John Mara, a mem­ber of the NFL’s Com­pe­ti­tion Com­mit­tee, says he can see a day in which kick­offs will be elim­i­nated from football. “We had a lot of dis­cus­sions about whether we should elim­i­nate it and if we did, what we could do in its place,” Mara told Giants.com. “There’s no con­sen­sus on it right now, but I could see the day in the future where that play could be taken out of the game. You see it evolv­ing toward that.” Reuter: Second-best RB prospect? Last year, the league moved kick­offs from the 30-yard line to the 35 as a... 

Eagles, Rams Reportedly Eye Browns’ Top Pick in NFL Draft

The Cleve­land Browns are well-versed in trad­ing down in the first round of the NFL draft, and a recent report indi­cates the team could have sev­eral options if it wants to do it again this year. The Philadel­phia Eagles and St. Louis Rams are among at least four teams that have expressed inter­est in acquir­ing the Browns’ No. 4 over­all pick, league sources told The Plain Dealer. The news­pa­per said there was “a decent chance” the Browns would move down in the draft. Casserly: Two-round mock draft Texas A&M quar­ter­back Ryan Tan­nehill, USC offen­sive tackle Matt... 

Saints ‘close’ in Talks With Drew Brees, Owner Tom Benson Says

New Orleans Saints owner Tom Ben­son said Fri­day that the team and quar­ter­back Drew Brees are “close” in nego­ti­at­ing the fran­chised player’s con­tract sta­tus, though a knowl­edge­able source later gave NFL.com’s Steve Wyche a dif­fer­ent account of the situation. La Can­fora: The expendables Ben­son was asked about Brees at a press con­fer­ence announc­ing that he will become the next owner of the NBA’s New Orleans Hornets. “I talked to Drew Brees this morn­ing per­son­ally and told him what was going on… ” Ben­son said. “He’s due in next week...