Ravens rookie LB Kindle will miss training camp with head injury

As a second-round draft pick of the 2010 NFL Draft but being drafted by the Baltimore Ravens as the team’s first pick, rookie linebacker Sergio Kindle was mentioned little during this offseason. And when he was first mentioned in headline, it was unfortunately bad news about his non-football injury.

The Ravens reported on its website Sunday afternoon that Kindle fell down two flights of stairs and sustained a head injury while visiting a friend in Austin, Texas. When he was immediately sent to hospital, Kindle was wearing a Brett Favre jersey and lost his consciousness. He is now in stable condition and being treated, but it’s unlikely for him to attend the Ravens’ training camp on Monday. And it’s still unsure when he will be able to return on field or whether he would have to skip his entire rookie season.

The outside linebacker from Texas had been dreaming of put on Saints jersey before being drafted by the Ravens. So the only good thing with the injury could be that he could be stay as a Saints fan for a longer time before having to play for the Ravens.

Browns rookie safety Asante received four-year contract

The Cleveland Browns just signed rookie safety Larry Asante to a standard four-year contract on Wednesday night. In order to earn more than the $1.96 million contract salary, Asante will have to work hard to compete for playing time in the Browns’ secondary. It won’t be a big problem to the fifth-round draft pick, who was starters at Nebraska.

During his college football career, Asante started totally 36 games. However, he did not attract much attention from his favorite team New Orleans Saints during the three-day NFL 2010 Draft. He was finally drafted by the lowly ranked team Browns in fifth round. Instead of regretting for missing the chance to put on Saints jersey, Asante is now looking forward to his rookie season and expects to improve the Brown’s defense as much as he can.

By signing his first NFL career contract, Asante got paid $170,000 as signing bonus. Incentives for earning more than base salary have not been released. But quite a few Browns officials are optimistic that it won’t take long for Asante to grab the starting job.

Steelers have to make choice for replacing ORT Colon

With starting offensive right tackle Willie Colon still lying in hospital recovering from a surgery on his Achilles tendon, the Pittsburgh Steelers may have to start and go through the 2010 NFL season without Colon. So the most important task for them now is to figure out a qualified tackle that can replace Colon at the position.

The Steelers do have a few choices. Free agent offensive tackle Flozell Adams is visiting the team and the former Dallas Cowboys tackle has a long-time experience as starter on the left side. If he is to be signed, the Steelers will be able to move offensive left tackle Max Starks to the right side as Starks used to start at right tackle in 2005 season and 2006 season. Besides, Jonathan Scott, Ramon Foster and Trai Essex are all available for promotion. Formerly starting both at left tackle and right tackle in Saints jersey, Scott is as experienced as Starks, and Essex is also likely to compete for the starting job because he started at right guard last season. Foster is a rookie but also has experience of starting at right tackle during his college football career.

Other possible candidates include third-year offensive tackle Tony Hillis and rookie tackle Chris Scott. But Hillis is in lack of real-game experience and Scott also suffered a foot injury recently and could miss most of his rookie season to recover from surgery.

Judge will release ruling on NFL players’ StarCaps case

Minnesota Judge Gary Larson is expected to release a ruling that is critical to at least three NFL players, including Minnesota Vikings Pat Williams and Kevin Williams and New Orleans Saints defensive end Will Smith.

All of the three are facing the same four-game suspension after testing positive for the same banned diuretic found in the over-the-counter weight-loss supplement StarCaps before the 2008 season. Smith actually has stopped making efforts to fight the suspension, but because the two Vikings players are still attempting to avoid the suspension with the support of Minnesota labor laws, his suspension has not been carried out as the league has to wait until the Williamses’ case is decided.

Therefore, after long-time debate, Larson’s ruling will finally lead things to a conclusion, not the end actually, as the losing side is expected to appeal to the Minnesota court of appeals for further arbitration. But at least, we can expect to know whether Smith could put on his Saints jersey to play at the beginning of regular season or four games later.

Saints added CB Robinson with No. 32 draft pick

With confidence that they can still pick a good player with great potentials, the last season’s champions team New Orleans Saints used the 32nd overall pick, also the last pick of the first-round NFL draft, to add a new cornerback to the team’s defensive line.

The rookie to put on the new Saints jersey is Patrick Robinson from the Florida State. His joining is expected to improve the Saints’ pass defense that ranked 26th in the NFL in yards passing allowed per game with 235.6 last season. What’s more, with addition of the rookie cornerback, the Saints now have more choices in moves on defensive line. According to reports, the team has a plan to move second-year cornerback Malcolm Jenkins to safety if free agent safety Darren Sharper eventually chooses not to wear back his Saints jersey.

While playing for the Florida Seminoles, Robinson had totally seven interceptions, with none in last season and one in 2008 season. His best performance was given in his sophomore season in 2007 and all of the six other interceptions were had during that season. The Saints still passed TCU linebacker Daryl Washington to pick Robinson perhaps they saw some other potentials in the cornerback, who started all of the 12 games his college football team played in 2009 and managed to have 52 tackles, 11 passes defended and two forced fumbles as well as 11 returned kickoffs for 218 yards. Generally speaking, the young player is considered to be the luckier one than the team to have a chance of playing for the Super Bowl champion team.

There will Thanksgiving Day game between Saints and Cowboys

As the NFL released schedules for all 32 teams on Tuesday evening, the most expected team schedules are of the New Orleans Saints, who won last season’s Super Bowl XLIV championship by beating the Indianapolis Colts. Well, to make the season attractive enough, Saints are scheduled to open the season against the Minnesota Vikings and play the Thanksgiving Day game at Dallas against the Cowboys.

As this season’s championship defending team, the Saints have only four night games. The first one is on Thursday, Sept. 9 against the Vikings, then a "Monday Night Football" game on Sept. 20 against the San Francisco 49ers, then the Oct.31 home game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the last one will be on Dec. 27 at Atlanta against the Falcons.

Talking about the schedule for the new season, Saints starting quarterback Drew Brees is confident that the stadiums will be full of fans in Saints jerseys whenever there is a game played by the champion team. Whether it will be loss or win, people just want to come to see what they can do, better or worse.