Thursday Notes: Lions Reportedly Interested in Chester Taylor, Nate Burleson

• According to National Football post, free agent running back Chester Taylor is "going to be heavily pursued" by the Lions.  The Texans are reported to be extremely interested in Taylor as well, and it is expected that the Bears, Bills, Broncos, Chiefs, Giants, and Steelers are also interested in him.  It looks like if the Lions want to bring Taylor back to his home state, they will have to fend off some serious competition.
• Also at National Football Post is a report that free agent wide receiver Nate Burleson is on the Lions' radar.  Other teams reported as being interested in Burleson are the Bears, Buccaneers, Chiefs, and Ravens.
• Tom Lewand and company are ready to go for the start of free agency.
• Tom Kowalski doesn't think that the Antonio Cromartie deal fell apart over Maurice Morris or anything like that.  He believes that the Lions simply lost interest after doing more and more research on him.
  
• Drew Stanton put up a post on his blog sharing his thoughts on this year's combine and some of his own memories from the combine.
• Pro Football Talk reports that the Jets want to bring back Thomas Jones after they release him on Friday.

(More after the jump)

• Despite announcing last week that Darren Sproles was not going to be tendered, the Chargers changed their mind today and gave him one of the first and third round variety.
• Pierre Thomas only received a second-round tender.
  
• The Eagles reportedly gave Jason Avant a second-round tender.
• It appears that Anquan Boldin could be acquired with only a third-round pick.
• The Browns apparently want to trade for a quarterback.
  
• The Jets are supposedly interested in Antonio Cromartie.
• Drew Rosenhaus said that the Bears "would be an attractive team" to Antrel Rolle.  I would be surprised if the Lions landed him, but unless they do I hope he isn't signed by an NFC North team.
  
• It looks like Chad Pennington is going to be re-signed by the Dolphins.
• I don't know what's weirder: The fact that the Raiders only sent out their tenders via FedEx or the fact that they gave their long snapper a second-round tender even though their starting middle linebacker only got a third-round tender.
• Mocking the Draft put up a post about Jason Pierre-Paul called "Bust-O-Meter."  I think you can guess what it's about.
• Nick Schuyler went on the Today Show to talk about his new book and what happened a year ago during the boating tragedy that claimed the lives of Corey Smith, Marquis Cooper, and Will Bleakley.