By Andy Kent

As promised by owner Stephen Ross, the Miami Dolphins continue to move on aggressively in their search for a new head coach.

Two days after his current team was eliminated from the playoffs by the New England Patriots, Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Mike McCoy interviewed for the head coaching position that became vacant when Tony Sparano was fired on December 18th. He is the sixth candidate to interview with Ross and General Manager Jeff Ireland, following interim Head Coach Todd Bowles, Dave Toub, Joe Phibin, Jeff Fisher and Mike Zimmer.

This was McCoy’s third season in Denver after spending the previous nine with the Carolina Panthers on the offensive side of the ball in different capacities. He was Carolina’s wide receivers coach in 2001, quarterbacks coach from 2002-08 and passing game coordinator in 2007 and 2008 among other jobs. But he jumped into the spotlight this year after Tim Tebow took over as the Broncos’ starting quarterback.

McCoy tailored Denver’s offense to Tebow’s unique skill set on the fly, incorporating the spread offense Tebow ran to perfection in college at the University of Florida. Though that type of offense wasn’t designed to put up big numbers statistically, it resulted in Tebow putting together a memorable six-game winning streak after Denver started out 1-4. The Broncos finished 8-8 and captured the AFC West crown, which put them back in the playoffs for the first time since 2005. They shocked the league in the Wild Card round by knocking off the Pittsburgh Steelers in overtime, 29-23, before falling to New England.

During his NFL coaching career, McCoy has overseen six individual 3,000-yard passing seasons from his work with Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme (4) and Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton (2). He also has been involved with the coaching of four Pro Bowl selections, helping Delhomme (2005) along with Broncos tackle Ryan Clady (2009) and wide receivers Brandon Marshall (2009) and Brandon Lloyd (2010) earn NFL Pro Bowl honors. Marshall just finished his second season with the Dolphins.

McCoy helped the Panthers to an NFC South title and their first-ever Super Bowl berth (XXXVIII) during the 2003 season. Delhomme, in his first year as an NFL starter, registered a league-high seven fourth-quarter comebacks that season. Carolina named McCoy its wide receivers coach in 2001 and he oversaw the development of Pro Bowler Steve Smith during his rookie campaign. Wide receivers Mushin Muhammad and Donald Hayes each recorded more than 50 catches and 500 receiving yards under McCoy’s instruction that year.

McCoy’s coaching career began with Carolina as its offensive assistant in 2000, and he was thrust into the quarterbacks coaching role four weeks into the season. He worked closely with veteran Steve Beuerlein, helping him total 3,730 passing yards that ranked seventh in the NFL.

McCoy spent his first two collegiate seasons (1990-91) playing quarterback for Long Beach State University under legendary head coach George Allen before transferring to the University of Utah for his final two years. His collegiate career ended in dramatic fashion in 1994 when he threw a game-winning, 5-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Kevin Dyson in the final minute to give Utah a 16-13 win against Arizona in the Freedom Bowl.

The Broncos signed McCoy as a college free agent in 1995, and he spent the regular season as a rookie on Green Bay’s practice squad. He saw his first professional playing time with NFL Europe’s Amsterdam Admirals in 1997 and spent one game on San Francisco’s roster as its third quarterback that year. McCoy competed in training camp with Philadelphia in 1998 before concluding his playing career with the Canadian Football League’s Calgary Stampeders in 1999. He and his wife, Kellie, have one daughter (Olivia) and one son (Luke).

As lawyers for the NFL and the players met into the night on Tuesday in New York, it appeared as if the league's lockout was entering its final stages.

According to several media sources, legal staff for both sides are trying to finalize an agreement so it can be presented to the Players' Association executive committee on Wednesday.
 

The NFL Network reports the committee will present the proposal to the 32 player representatives. They will vote whether or not to recommend the proposal to the Brady plaintiffs.

If an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement is reached Wednesday, owners could ratify the deal when they meet Thursday in Atlanta.

When the players decertified their union, a lawsuit, led by Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, ensued against the league.

The NFL Network reported one of the proposed settlements has Manning and Brees being immune from the franchise tag for the rest of their careers.

Brees took to Twitter to respond.

"I hesitate to even dignify the false media reports with a response, but obviously they are leading people astray," Brees said.

San Diego Chargers wide receiver Vincent Jackson and New England Patriots guard Logan Mankins reportedly demanded to either be free agents or get $10 million as compensation for being plaintiffs in the case. Both players currently have the franchise tag designation.

A new CBA needs to be reached soon if the preseason is to start on time August 7 when the Chicago Bears and St. Louis Rams play the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio. The start of training camps, scheduled to begin the end of this week, will likely be delayed.

A source told the NFL Network that the plan was to have some training camps open a day late, but the others on time. The network reported attorney Michael Hausfeld led a group of retired players into negotiations Tuesday. Sources told the network that between $900 million and $1 billion in improvements have been negotiated for retirees.

The lockout, of course, began on March 12 after the sides failed to reach an agreement on how to split about $9 billion in revenue, among other issues like a rookie wage scale, the salary cap and retirement benefits.

In the four months since, they have battled each other in courts and during negotiating sessions.

By Mark Maske, The Washington Post

The NFL and its locked-out players are making a negotiating push that appears to be aimed at trying to complete a deal on a new labor agreement by early July.

Neither side has commented on the specifics of the talks publicly, but people on both sides of the dispute said this week that a concerted attempt is underway to reach a compromise in coming weeks that would ensure an uninterrupted training camp, preseason and regular season.

The tone of the negotiations is greatly improved, both sides said, and while the talks still could break down, there is guarded optimism that a deal can be reached in late June or early July, according to people who are not involved in the talks but have knowledge of them. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the deliberations.

Negotiators for the two sides met this week in New York after several days of talks last week in Chicago. On Wednesday, the NFL and NFL Players Association issued a joint statement that “they continue to be engaged in confidential discussions” with their mediator, Chief Magistrate Judge Arthur J. Boylan of the federal court in Minnesota, and that “discussions are expected to continue.”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a conference call Wednesday with Tampa Bay Buccaneers season ticket holders that “both sides are working hard to reach an agreement” and that the ongoing talks are “a positive step for everybody.”

Goodell, according to an NFL spokesman, repeated that the league intends to play a full 2011 season. “I believe both sides want to find solutions,” he said. “I’m hopeful we’re going to be successful.”

Goodell was joined by five owners — the New York Giants’ John Mara, the Kansas City Chiefs’ Clark Hunt, the New England Patriots’ Robert Kraft, the Carolina Panthers’ Jerry Richardson and the San Diego Chargers’ Dean Spanos — at this week’s talks. Players Kevin Mawae, Jeff Saturday, Mike Vrabel, Tony Richardson and Domonique Foxworth joined DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the dissolved players’ union.

“At the end of the day, there is too much at stake to miss a season,” said sports law expert Gary Roberts, dean of the law school at Indiana University. “There is enough revenue. . . . The parties can work out a deal that can make both sides, while not gleeful, at least satisfied. That’s why I’m confident a deal will get done at some point.”

The players have been locked out by NFL owners since March 12 in a standoff that centers primarily on how to divide the more than $9 billion in annual revenue generated by pro football. One person who did not participate in the talks but has knowledge of them said the willingness to complete a deal has increased and, because of that, the negotiating differences between the two sides can be overcome. Others said the timing is right and the proper people now are involved in the discussions.

One person said the benefits of recently excluding lawyers from the talks may be overstated. But others said that development has helped reduce the level of acrimony.

Also, they said, the courtroom phase of the dispute has largely played itself out, with the NFL achieving some victories in a federal appellate court, which has indicated that the league is likely to prevail in its bid to keep the lockout in place.

Mainly, people in the sport said, both sides are realizing that time is running short, with many players unsigned for the upcoming season and the normal opening of training camps less than two months away.

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay said last month that a deal would have to be reached by about July 4 to allow time for a free agent signing period before a full training camp, preseason and regular season. Teams have been prohibited from signing free agents and trading players during the lockout. Most teams normally open training camps by early August.

A later deal could mean an abbreviated free agency period and a truncated training camp and preseason, with the regular season starting on time. But others view early July as a deadline of sorts, believing that if there isn’t a deal by then, it could indicate differences so great that the start of the regular season is in peril.

Roberts said he doesn’t share that opinion. He said a deal is most likely in August, after a ruling by the appeals court on the legality of the lockout. But he said that “both sides could hedge their bets” by completing a deal sooner, before the appellate court moves the negotiating leverage one way or the other.

“It’s all driven on both sides by the internal politics,” Roberts said Wednesday. “Both sides [initially] staked out rather rigid positions. As we get closer and closer to missing football games, I think the voices of reason will win out over the extremist voices and there will be a deal done.”

Strong sentiment remains that if the NFL and players can settle the central financial issue, the other elements of a deal would fall into place.

Before talks collapsed on March 11, the two sides were trying to agree on an annual salary cap figure for the NFL’s 32 teams. The two sides were about $10 million apart on that issue, or about $320 million league-wide for the first year of a collective bargaining agreement.

But to resolve the core economic issue, the league and players also would have to agree to a split of any future revenue that exceeds projections, a highly divisive issue during the March talks. In addition, any deal would have to address the NFL’s desire to avoid ongoing court oversight of the sport’s labor situation and the league’s proposal to blood test players for human growth hormone. The two sides also would have to find a mutually agreeable rookie pay system.

The talks have buoyed hopes for a deal. Agent Drew Rosenhaus wrote last week on Twitter: “It is nice to see the optimism back regarding a new CBA! Great [to] see both sides negotiating again — things are heading in the right direction.”