NFL Capsules: Tennessee fans lobbying Manning to consider Titans
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Peyton Manning remains on the Colts' roster, and the Titans have three quarterbacks already.
Still, Titans' fans of the NFL's only four-time MVP expecting the injured QB to be released and healthy enough to play are starting an ad campaign in Indianapolis hoping to convince Manning to return to Tennessee.
"It's kind of evident to the sports world they're going to let Peyton go, they're not going to pay him the money that he's due and he's going to be a free agent," Todd Mayo said Monday. "All the sports talk guys are saying he could go to Arizona and Washington and every place but Tennessee. We've got a young quarterback here at the Titans.
"If you could upgrade your team with the caliber of Peyton, why would you not?"
Mayo said he and his brother, Griffin, spent the weekend designing the website www.comehomepeyton.com and recorded a couple parody songs, including one to the Eminem hit "Lose Yourself."
The site went live Monday and had generated $700 in donations by midday. A 30-second commercial is planned for an Indianapolis radio station during the Super Bowl.
"Call it fan-vertising if you will, but kind of a concept to put the power in the fans' hands and let Peyton know how much he's wanted in the state of Tennessee for the Titans," Mayo said. "Of course, he played at Tennessee. I'm from Memphis, went to school at Tennessee in Knoxville and live in Nashville ... I love Tennessee, and it's kind of one of those things you would like to affect positive change from the power of fans coming together."
Mayo works at a Nashville advertising agency and already has priced billboards and ads. He hopes to solicit enough donations to place eight digital billboards in Indianapolis along with ads on TV and radio and in the local newspaper. If enough money comes in, Mayo said billboards and ads in Houston where Titans owner Bud Adams lives are a possibility to help persuade him to make a move for Manning.
Manning remains very popular in Tennessee where many children are named Peyton after the quarterback by parents who still wear his Volunteers' jersey or his Colts' No. 18. Manning is due $28 million from the Colts on March 8 after missing the 2011 season following his third neck surgery.
The Titans signed veteran Matt Hasselbeck to a three-year contract last July, and he led Tennessee to a 9-7 record. The Titans also used the eighth pick overall last April on Jake Locker.
Mayo said life and football are about risks and rewards. He sees this as a rare chance that the Titans shouldn't pass on to team Manning with running back Chris Johnson, receiver Kenny Britt and a strong offensive line.
"He's probably the most famous Tennessean since Davy Crockett," Mayo said. "All of this seems to be a perfect storm, one of those Disney-type movies. I would certainly hope it would have a Disney-type ending. You never know with injuries, but why wouldn't you do everything you can to further along as a fan ... to at least send a message."
Bengals WR Simpson pleads not guilty in drug case
COVINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Cincinnati Bengals receiver Jerome Simpson has pleaded not guilty to marijuana trafficking. Simpson entered the plea on Monday in Kenton County Circuit Court in Covington. A grand jury indicted the four-year veteran on one count of marijuana trafficking in excess of 8 ounces on Jan. 19.
Simpson has been under investigation since September when agents from California tracked a package shipped to his northern Kentucky home. They said it contained 2 1/2 pounds of marijuana. Authorities said a search of Simpson's home also turned up 6 more pounds of marijuana, smoking pipes and scales.
The 2008 second-round draft pick from Coastal Carolina caught 53 passes for 758 yards and four touchdowns this season. Simpson can become a free agent after completing the final year of his contract.
Bills re-sign long snapper Sanborn
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — The Buffalo Bills have re-signed restricted free agent long snapper Garrison Sanborn. Sanborn has been Buffalo's primary long snapper for the past three seasons after he signed with the Bills as a free agent.
Buffalo's other restricted free agents are offensive linemen Kraig Urbik and Chad Rinehart.
Team Capsules
Emery introduced as Bears GM
LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — Phil Emery presented a thorough plan for improving the Chicago Bears, and team president Ted Phillips loved his attention to detail and his toughness from his days as a strength and conditioning coach at Navy.
That's how Emery became the top choice to become the team's new general manager. And when Phillips called around the league and talked with other GMs, coaches and executives to get their take, he heard nothing that challenged his initial impression.
"Nobody had a negative thing to say about Phil Emery, so I became intrigued early on," Phillips said.
Emery was introduced Monday as the Bears GM, taking over after Jerry Angelo was fired following an 8-8 season that featured the Bears faltering down the stretch after injuries to quarterback Jay Cutler and running back Matt Forte.
During Angelo's 11-year run, the Bears won four division championships, reached the Super Bowl and got back to the NFC championship game after the 2010 season. But Angelo, who had been under contract through 2013, was undone on several fronts — especially when backup Caleb Hanie struggled mightily after Cutler was hurt.
Chicago has missed the playoffs four out of the last five seasons.
The 53-year-old Emery actually worked under Angelo when he was a Bears area scout from 1998-2004. His final year in that post overlapped for five months with coach Lovie Smith, whose future Emery will now determine.
Emery made it clear that he's his own man and not following in the footsteps of Angelo, who like Emery had an extensive scouting and personnel background before getting his first GM job.
"I'm a very different person than Jerry. I worked for Jerry. I respect him. But we both come from different backgrounds as any two people would," Emery said. "My influences are different."
Emery spent the three previous seasons as director of college scouting for the Kansas City Chiefs. From 2004-08, Emery held a similar post with the Atlanta Falcons. Among his several college coaching stops were stints as conditioning and strength coach at both Tennessee and Navy.
There are areas where he is not as experienced. Emery said during his stay with the Falcons he became familiar with salary-cap issues, but acknowledged he would have to rely on Bears lead contract negotiator Cliff Stein.
Emery and New England Patriots director of pro personnel Jason Licht were finalists and both interviewed twice. The Bears also interviewed San Diego Chargers director of player personnel Jimmy Raye, New York Giants director of college scouting Marc Ross, and former director of player personnel Tim Ruskell.
Ruskell and the Bears parted ways by mutual decision Monday, a team spokesman said, so Emery now has a vacancy to fill.
Phillips said Emery's previous stint with the Bears was not a major consideration in him being hired.
"The familiarity really had no bearing at all," Phillips said. "I mean, he was an area scout so you really only saw him at draft time for a couple of weeks so I really didn't have a relationship with him.
"But what you do find out is — you did sense even back then — that he had convictions in his evaluations even back then. You saw a little start of what might be traits of a general manager but really had nothing to do with the fact that he worked here."
Phillips' mandate for his new GM was an ability to work with Smith and close the talent gap in the NFC North with the Packers and more recently the Detroit Lions. He said he also wants the Bears to be more productive with their higher picks.
As for his relationship with Smith, Emery said he, Smith and all members of the coaching staff and football operations department will be evaluated daily.
He praised the schemes Smith has brought to the Bears and said he would do everything possible to be in synch with Smith and work with him toward building a championship through the draft and free agency.
"I have great respect for what Lovie has done," Emery said during a nearly hour-long news conference at Halas Hall. "The consistency of teaching, of being systematic is very important. I would say that the Naval Academy taught me more in that area than any other coaching assignment.
"We had players who were under extreme stress in their daily activities and it was very important that the scheme stayed the same so that we could play fast. ... When I watch Lovie Smith's defense those players play fast because they know the scheme. So consistency is important."
Phillips said Emery has the power to hire and fire a head coach and final say on the 53-man roster but he doesn't expect there to be any problems.
"The idea is you work together to find the best team for the Bears," Phillips said. "I don't know of a single team that's been successful with a general manager jamming players down the coach's throat."
Emery, who said he watched tape or six or seven Bears games before his first interview and even more before the season, praised Cutler and veteran linebacker Brian Urlacher, who will be entering his 13th NFL season as the Bears' marquee defensive player.
"I've heard rumblings that there is age on our roster," Emery said. "I kind of look at it this way: It's not a numerical number. It's whether you are making plays. If it was just a numerical number and number of gray hairs, I wouldn't be standing here."
-- Rick Gano
Del Rio ignored advice to sit out 2012 season
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — The links and lakes were appealing to Jack Del Rio, just not as enticing as the green grass and white lines of the football field where he's spent most of his life.
So, after briefly contemplating sitting out the 2012 season, Del Rio decided to jump right back into the NFL fray, replacing Dennis Allen as Denver's defensive coordinator this week.
He could have sat back and relaxed while earning the $5 million left on his contract when the Jacksonville Jaguars fired him in November.
Now, the Jaguars will pay him the difference between that total and his salary in Denver.
"Yeah, I thought a lot about it," Del Rio said of sitting out the season. "I had a lot of advice from my friends who are professionals out there."
They all told him to stay away from the game and take a sabbatical from all those stressful Sundays at the stadium.
"But I love to compete," said Del Rio, a former linebacker for the Saints, Chiefs, Cowboys and Vikings before embarking on a coaching career.
Del Rio's hiring reunites Broncos coach John Fox with his first defensive coordinator from Carolina.
"It's good to be back with him," Del Rio said. "He's a good man, he's a good coach."
Del Rio left Fox's Panthers staff after one year and went 69-73 in 8½ seasons with the Jaguars, including 1-2 in the playoffs.
He demurred when asked Monday if he aspires to be a head coach again.
"Right now, I'm excited to be here," he said. "I had nine good years in Jacksonville. Maybe someday. But that's really not in the forefront of my thinking. Right now, first and foremost for me is to get settled in here and get to work in terms of evaluating the tape and the season and getting ready for the offseason, personnel and all those things, system adjustments. And getting my family settled."
Del Rio said the two months he had away from the game were more than enough to make him miss it.
"I certainly had some time to sit back and reflect and I'm very appreciative of the time I had down there, nine wonderful years competing, a great place to raise a family," Del Rio said. "And so, there was time to kind of reflect on that, kind of decompress a little bit, kind of unwind. I did some of that. And I find myself right now rejuvenated."
He couldn't wait to get started, either. So, while the rest of Fox's staff takes a break this week, Del Rio is putting in long hours at the team's Dove Valley complex to catch up on the defense he inherited.
Allen left after one year in Denver to serve as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders after his aggressive style helped the Broncos recover from a miserable 2010 season in which they fielded the league's worst defense.
The Broncos reached the playoffs for the first time since 2005 and upset Pittsburgh in the playoffs before losing to New England.
"They made some strides last year," Del Rio said. "We just want to build on that and ... help this football team win. I feel like last year was a good start in that direction."
Del Rio is the Broncos' seventh defensive coordinator in seven seasons. Other men who have filled the Mile High musical chair in the last six seasons are Larry Coyer (2006), Jim Bates (2007), Bob Slowik (2008), Mike Nolan (2009) and Don Martindale (2010).
With such annual turnover, it wasn't surprising when safety Brian Dawkins tweeted, "Love the hire, just hope we can keep him around," when Del Rio's hiring was announced Friday night.
"That's an unusual thing to have happen," Del Rio said of a team having a different coordinator in each of seven straight seasons. "... I can't really speak to what it was before and I have no idea about what it's going to be going forward, but I know I'm fired up to be here."
Coming over from Jacksonville with Del Rio is strength and conditioning coach Luke Richesson, who spent the last three seasons on the Jaguars staff.
-- Arnie Stapleton
Raiders introduce new coach Allen
ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) — Reggie McKenzie started researching Dennis Allen as a potential coaching candidate this past season when he first heard the Oakland Raiders might hire him as a general manager.
He talked to some of Allen's former players and coaching colleagues and only got rave reviews. When McKenzie sat down with Allen two weeks ago in Denver for his first interview, he knew he had found his man,
"The bottom line, he was what the doctor ordered," McKenzie said Monday at a news conference to introduce Allen. "He understood the big picture as far as putting a plan together, how to do this, this and this. We went over everything. How you treat people, how you treat players, getting a staff together. It was all right in line (with) the way I was thinking."
With speculation pointing to McKenzie hiring one of his former colleagues in Green Bay to be his first head coach, he instead turned to the 39-year-old Allen, who had just one year of experience as a defensive coordinator in Denver and had never been a head coach at any level.
He starts his first head coaching job in Oakland with the task of turning around a franchise that has gone nine straight seasons without a winning record or a playoff berth while going through a revolving door of head coaches. Allen is the seventh head coach for the Raiders since 2003, but he is the first to be hired since longtime owner Al Davis died in October.
Davis' son, Mark, took over as managing general partner and hired McKenzie earlier this month to remake the football side of the organization. McKenzie immediately fired Hue Jackson, who went 8-8 in his only season as head coach, and then began the search that ended with Allen's hiring.
Allen got more stability than his predecessors with a four-year contract as opposed to the two guaranteed years they were given under Al Davis and will have more say in putting together his staff and roster than head coaches previously had in Oakland.
"At the end of the day, what I was really concerned with was, who are the people that are leading the organization now? The people who are leading the organization now are Mark Davis and Reggie McKenzie, and when I looked across the table at Reggie McKenzie, I knew that was a man that I believed in and that I trusted in," Allen said. "That was the only thing that was a concern to me, and that was what really drew me to this job."
Allen has plenty of work to do to turn the Raiders around after a nearly decade-long stretch of losing and poor play. Oakland has been plagued by sloppy play and porous run defense during that stretch and both issues were major problems last season.
Oakland also set an NFL record last season with 163 penalties for 1,358 yards so it came as little surprise that Allen used a version of the word discipline more than a half-dozen times in his news conference.
"The only way that you create habits is through consistency, doing the same things over and over and over," Allen said. "Well, if you're committing penalties, that becomes a habit. We've got to change those habits, all right? We've got to develop the proper habits so that we're not creating those penalties on a daily basis."
The Raiders are also coming off one of their worst defensive seasons ever. Oakland had franchise worsts in touchdown passes allowed (31), yards per carry (5.1), yards passing (4,262) and total yards (6,201), while giving up the third-most points (433) in team history.
The struggles came despite a unit that had high-priced and high-profile players throughout, from linemen Richard Seymour and Tommy Kelly to linebackers Rolando McClain and Kamerion Wimbley and defensive backs Stanford Routt and Michael Huff.
"I don't think radical changes are what need to be made," Allen said. "Obviously, just with all aspects of the game, you're always going to try to upgrade your team in whatever way that you can but I do still feel like there's a talented defense. I feel like we got enough players, both on offense and defense, that we can win a championship with."
Allen and McKenzie will make those tweaks together as McKenzie envisions a general manager-coach relationship similar to the successful ones he witnessed as an executive in Green Bay.
"This is a team effort," McKenzie said. "When we go about getting players, work on getting a staff in here, how we're going to do things on the football side, we're going to do these things together. It's not, 'I got this, you have this.' We're not doing it like that. The right hand will know what the left hand is doing. We're in this thing together."
Allen said he will not call defensive plays as head coach, preferring to be a "game manager" who is deeply involved in all facets of the team on game days. That will put a greater importance on the staff he puts together.
The Raiders have only one assistant currently under contract, offensive coordinator Al Saunders, and there is no assurance that he will return. McKenzie said Allen could keep a few of the other assistants but most of the staff will be new.
Allen wants a defense that attacks the quarterback and is stout against the run. Allen also said he wants to run an up-tempo, aggressive offense and believes he has many of the playmakers needed to make it work. Carson Palmer will be back for his first full season with the Raiders and has already talked to Allen and McKenzie about the new direction for the franchise.
"Carson Palmer is extremely excited about what we have going here," Allen said. "He's looking forward to the future and he's excited about the opportunities here."
-- Josh Dubow
Chiefs hire special teams coach, release three others
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs hired Tom McMahon to coach special teams and cut ties on Monday with three assistants from former head coach Todd Haley's staff.
McMahon will take over for Steve Hoffman, who wasn't retained after Romeo Crennel was elevated from interim head coach to the permanent job. Also let go were wide receivers coach Richie Anderson and assistant offensive line coach Pat Perles.
"I'm very blessed to have the opportunity to come to Kansas City and be a part of Romeo's staff," said McMahon, who spent the past three seasons coaching special teams for St. Louis.
"Romeo and I have a shared vision of what it takes to win, and I'm excited to get started."
McMahon's special teams have been one of the few bright spots for the Rams the last couple of years. St. Louis had the NFL's third-best net punting average in 2010, and punt returner Danny Amendola led the league in 20-plus-yard returns in 2009 and '10 combined.
Before his time in St. Louis, McMahon spent two seasons as an assistant special teams coach for Atlanta, and more than a decade in the college ranks with Louisville and Utah State.
"I am pleased to add Tom to our staff," Crennel said in a statement issued by the team. "He is a diligent worker and passionate coach. It is a great addition for us."
Crennel has already announced that he will serve as his own defensive coordinator, though he hasn't announced who will be the offensive coordinator.
Longtime assistant coach Bill Muir, who served as offensive coordinator last season, has talked about retirement after struggling in his first season running the offense.
Hamstrung by injuries, Kansas City had one of the least productive offenses in the NFL.
The Chiefs were interested in former Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman before he chose to join new head coach Joe Philbin's staff in Miami, and former Rams offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who has instead returned to Bill Belichick's staff in New England.
The only other name from outside the organization that has surfaced is Brian Daboll, who was the offensive coordinator in Miami. He was an assistant with Crennel with the Patriots.
Among the internal candidates is Jim Zorn, the former head coach in Washington. He spent last season working with the Chiefs quarterbacks, but also directed Seattle's offense a few years ago.
Crennel has said he likely won't announce his choice until after the Super Bowl on Sunday.
-- Dave Skretta
Former Colts coach Caldwell hired by Ravens
OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) — Jim Caldwell is back in the NFL, this time as the Baltimore Ravens quarterbacks coach. The 57-year-old Caldwell was hired on Monday by the Ravens. The appointment comes less than two weeks after Caldwell was fired as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts following a 2-14 season.
Caldwell went 26-22 in three years with Indianapolis, including a Super Bowl appearance.
After working with Colts standout quarterback Peyton Manning for 10 seasons, Caldwell will turn his attention toward improving Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco and teaming with offensive coordinator Cam Cameron to strengthen Baltimore's passing game, which ranked 19th this season.
"After spending considerable time with Jim over the last week, we think he will be an excellent fit with our team, coaching the quarterbacks and helping with our offense," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. "We believe he enhances our staff. Jim has a tremendous history coaching at the college and pro level, especially working with quarterbacks and providing help with offenses.
"The timing is right to add a quarterbacks coach after Cam and Joe worked so closely and well together this year. It's the right step for us now."
Before taking over as head coach at Indianapolis, Caldwell spent seven seasons as the team's quarterbacks coach. Under his direction, Manning won three NFL MVP awards. In 2004, Indianapolis went 12-4 behind Manning, who threw for a career-high 49 touchdowns and just 10 interceptions.
"I am really excited to work with coach Harbaugh, Cam and the rest of the coaching staff," Caldwell said. "It's a great fit for me, and I'm happy they saw it that way. I can't wait to get started with the Ravens, an organization that from top to bottom is one of the NFL's best."
Baltimore is the only NFL team to reach the playoffs in each of the last four seasons. The Ravens were eliminated this year by New England in the AFC title game.
AP Source: Colts hire Arians as OC
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A person familiar with the hiring tells The Associated Press the Indianapolis Colts have hired Bruce Arians as offensive coordinator.
Arians recently left Pittsburgh, where he held the same position. He will join the staff of new coach Carl Pagano, the person said on the condition of anonymity because the team has not yet announced the hiring. Pagano was defensive coordinator in Baltimore and faced Arians' offense twice a season.
The Steelers said 10 days ago that the 57-year-old Arians was retiring, but he resurfaced with the Colts, who are rebuilding. With Peyton Manning's health uncertain following three neck surgeries, including one that cost him the entire 2011 season, Arians might be coaching Stanford star Andrew Luck next season. Indianapolis (2-14) has the first overall selection in April's draft.
Arians was Manning's first offensive coordinator in the NFL, in 1998.
-- Michael Marot
Bills add two to the coaching staff
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — The Buffalo Bills reshaped their coaching staff Monday by adding Andrew Dees and Eric Thatcher, and reassigning Bob Bicknell, Bob Sanders, and Adrian White.
Dees becomes the team's assistant offensive line coach, and Thatcher will serve as the new defensive quality control coach. They both will make their NFL coaching debut with Buffalo.
Bicknell will coach receivers after coaching tight ends this past season, and White will be the assistant defensive backs coach after serving as the defensive quality control coach since 2008.
Sanders will take over as linebackers coach after coaching just the outside linebackers.
The Bills only need a tight ends coach to complete the staff.
Meanwhile, coach Chan Gailey said Monday that Buffalo's defense will switch from a 3-4 scheme to predominantly a four-man front.
Edwards hired as Dolphins LB coach
MIAMI (AP) — George Edwards has been hired as linebackers coach by the Miami Dolphins, who also announced they're retaining three assistants from last year's staff.
Edwards rejoins the Dolphins after spending the past two years as defensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills. He coached linebackers for Miami from 2005 to 2009.
Tight ends coach Dan Campbell, strength coach Darren Krein and special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi have been retained by new head coach Joe Philbin.
Zac Taylor, who has been an assistant at Texas A&M, was hired as assistant quarterbacks coach. The Dolphins announced the moved on Monday.
Eagles hire Bowles to coach secondary
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Former Dolphins interim coach Todd Bowles has been hired to coach the Philadelphia Eagles' secondary.
Bowles, a 12-year NFL coaching veteran, was 2-1 as Miami's head coach after Tony Sparano was fired. He replaces Johnny Lynn in Philadelphia. The move was announced Monday.
Bowles previously served as the Dolphins assistant head coach/secondary for three seasons (2008-11). Bowles has also coached for Dallas, Cleveland and the New York Jets. Bowles was a defensive back at Temple and played eight seasons in the NFL with Washington and San Francisco.
Hall of Fame News
Kennedy awaiting the Hall's call
Cortez Kennedy's home resembles a museum devoted to his football career.
His last Seattle Seahawks helmet is perched on a shelf, and his Miami degree — the one he went back to finish at his own expense after leaving school early for the NFL — is on the wall, not far from photos of him posing with two U.S. Presidents. There's a street sign bearing his name from his hometown, framed letters from giants of sport, palm trees around the pool, unbelievable golf-course views and just about anything else he would want.
Some days, his biggest dilemma is deciding whether to catch the afternoon flight from Florida back home to Arkansas for a quick deer hunting trip.
His life is happy, full, complete. Well, almost complete.
"People always ask me, 'Do you think you should be in the Hall of Fame?'" Kennedy said, sitting in the office of his home near Orlando. "I always say yes."
On Saturday, he'll find out if others agree.
For the fourth time, Kennedy is a finalist for enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. This year's class will be decided Saturday, on the eve of the Super Bowl in Indianapolis. He would be the 14th defensive tackle to be chosen, and his numbers — eight Pro Bowls, three All-Pro nods — compare with others who have gotten the Hall's call.
"I can honestly tell you, if getting in the Hall of Fame is my biggest worry, then I'm doing OK," Kennedy said. "So I guess I'm doing OK."
He was the league's defensive player of the year in 1992 — for a team that won two games. He made 58 sacks, went through his first seven seasons without missing a single game, played in at least 15 games 10 times in his 11 seasons, and turned down some fairly lucrative contracts at the end of his career so he could retire saying he only played for one NFL team.
"I say this all the time," said his former Miami Hurricanes teammate and longtime friend, Randy Shannon. "People, fans, people around him, they always liked him because he's a likable guy, but they will never know how good a player Cortez Kennedy was. Never. But in that locker room, we knew. He'd do anything it took on the field to win and be an example, did it in high school that way, college, Seattle. That was Cortez. No doubt, one of the best. Ever."
Today, Kennedy is enjoying the spoils that came with what he did on the field.
He's still a fan favorite in Seattle, and spends a good chunk of time during the season around the New Orleans Saints, for whom some of his closest friends and confidants work. His home is in a well-to-do community, with neighbors including U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, golfer Ian Poulter and famed football coach Lou Holtz — someone who Kennedy tormented during the height of the Miami-Notre Dame rivalry.
Holtz got over it, apparently: He wrote the letter suggesting that Kennedy should be approved to move into the gated community he now calls home.
On one recent afternoon, Kennedy got into his golf cart — he rarely golfs — and zipped around the development. A bowl of soup at the clubhouse. Chatting with some neighbors after they putted out on the first green. Saw a young girl near the tennis courts and asked her why he hadn't seen her parents around in a couple days. He couldn't drive 100 feet, it seemed, without someone taking notice.
"People are so nice," Kennedy said. "Always have been. You be nice to them, they're nice to you."
He chose to live in Orlando for two reasons: His past, and his daughter's future.
First, the past. Kennedy became smitten with the Orlando area while training there during his playing days. His agent, Robert Fraley — who died in a 1999 plane crash that also killed golfer Payne Stewart — lived there, and Kennedy thought the place was perfect. To this day, Kennedy speaks with reverence about Fraley. Months after Fraley died, Kennedy played his first NFL playoff game and gave his bonus to charity in memory of Fraley and Jerome Brown, another close friend from their time together with the Hurricanes.
"I always wanted to be like Robert," Kennedy said. "Robert taught me things I still use today in my life."
Next, the future. Kennedy has custody of his 16-year-old daughter Courtney, a high school junior and a standout athlete in track and basketball. Even when one or the other is traveling, they usually talk several times a day. She asked for a car when she got her license, so a Cadillac Escalade with personalized plates arrived in the driveway.
The way Kennedy saw it, the gift was far from exuberant.
"It was safe," he said.
He is still a mountain of a man, though in very good shape. Weight almost ended his football career at Miami, before Shannon — his former roommate — would literally guard the refrigerator to keep him out of it at night, then would wake him up early the next day for training runs while wearing a black garbage bag to create even more sweat and heat. A 90-minute walk is part of his regular regimen. He is quiet, soft-spoken, thoughtful. He's saved his money, envisions a return to the NFL in some capacity someday, probably after Courtney starts college.
"I wouldn't trade this for the world," Kennedy said.
If this Saturday is going to go like the past three pre-Super Bowl-Saturdays have, here's a peek at how things will be around Kennedy this time while waiting for the Hall's deciders to make their choices: His daughter will be nervous and pacing all day. His friends will be waiting in the nearby Lake Nona clubhouse, most watching television for the announcement. Kennedy will not stray too far from the phone, just in case.
He wants to hear it ring. Badly.
"I do want to get in, one day," Kennedy said. "Once you get the call, then you work on your speech. So I won't worry about the speech until I get the call."
-- Tim Reynolds
Elsewhere
Fan pleads not guilty in Jets game stun gun case
HACKENSACK, N.J. (AP) — A South Carolina man accused of using a stun gun on other fans during a fight at a New York Jets-Dallas Cowboys game last year pleaded not guilty Monday to several criminal charges.
A lawyer for Leroy McKelvey of Moncks Corner, S.C., entered the plea in state court in Hackensack. McKelvey, who came to court dressed in a suit and tie and using a cane to walk, didn't speak during the brief proceeding or afterward except to tell reporters that Monday was his 60th birthday.
McKelvey faces eight counts including aggravated assault and unlawful possession of a weapon. He is scheduled to return to court March 5 for a status conference on the case.
McKelvey's attorney, Raymond Hamlin, said he had turned down a plea offer of three years in prison for his client. The aggravated assault charges are third-degree crimes and carry prison sentences of five to 10 years upon conviction.
"The plea offer includes jail time, and we don't feel that's appropriate for this case," Hamlin said outside court.
McKelvey was arrested at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 11. According to reports, he became involved in an altercation with other fans when he remained seated during the singing of the national anthem.
Stadium CEO Mark Lamping has said no one was seriously hurt in the incident during the Jets' 27-24 victory. Security had been beefed up for the game because it was the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Man charged with threat during Lions-Saints game
JACKSON, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan man faces federal charges on accusations he phoned in a bomb threat to the Superdome while the Detroit Lions were playing the New Orleans Saints in the NFL playoffs.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in New Orleans says 34-year-old Shawn H. Payton of Jackson made the call on Jan. 7, when about 70,000 people were inside the stadium in New Orleans.
The office says he made a second call 45 minutes later, saying there would be "severe consequences" if the "stupid southern team keeps winning." The Saints beat the Lions 45-28.
The FBI arrested Payton Monday. He's free on bond after appearing in Detroit federal court. He's due Feb. 14 in New Orleans federal court.
Payton tells The Detroit News he feels "bad for making some stupid phone calls."
