Because of his connection to Detroit Lions head coach Jim Schwartz and new defensive assistant Marcus Robertson, it's worth keeping an eye on what is going on with cornerback Cortland Finnegan. He is set to become a free agent next month, and all signs this offseason have pointed to the Tennessee Titans not bringing him back. That still appears to be the likely scenario based on this report from the The Tennessean on Monday:

And while the two sides did have a conversation on Friday – their first regarding a contract since last offseason – no numbers were discussed. The two sides are believed to still be far apart.

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Free agency may still be three weeks away, but there was some action on the free agent market on Monday. Cornerback Stanford Routt, who was let go by the Oakland Raiders earlier this month, agreed to a three-year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs. The deal is worth $19.6 million and has a $4 million signing bonus, according to Jason La Canfora.

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You can pretty much bet on anything in the world of sports, especially if it involves the NFL. For events like the Super Bowl, NFL Draft and NFL Combine, there is a seemingly endless amount of prop bets that allow you to bet on ridiculous things like which team will win the coin toss, which conference will have the most players picked in the first round and who will run the fastest 40-yard dash.

The latter of those three things is just one of the many possible bets for the 2012 NFL Combine. There is a whole set of NFL Combine odds that came out yesterday. They come via Bovada, and you can check them out after the jump.

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One of the sticking points for the NFLPA in the collective bargaining agreement negotiations last summer was the length of the regular season. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the owners seemed to want the regular season to shift to 18 games, thereby creating more revenue. The players, on the other hand, preferred for the schedule to stay at 16 games, as a longer regular season could easily shorten their long-term careers.

Although the NFLPA did prevail on this issue in the negotiations last summer, the agreement was that the length of the regular season could be reevaluated at a later date. I highly doubt the players have changed their minds about lengthening the regular season (which is the only way it could change), and it's pretty clear Roger Goodell hasn't, either.

"Well I appreciate the enthusiasm for it and I hear it from the fans consistently. People want more football. I think they want less preseason and more regular season and that’s the concept we are talking about here. We wouldn’t add an extra two games without reducing the preseason and we are not going to do it without the players support, so we did that in the collective bargaining agreement instead of having the unilateral right, which we had. We determined that we were going to do this together. We are going to make changes in the offseason and during the preseason and during the regular season to make the game safer. If we can accomplish that we’ll look at the idea of restructuring the season and taking two preseason games away and the potential of adding regular season games, but I don’t think that will happen until at least 2013 or 14."

Personally, I want a shorter preseason and the regular season to remain the way it is. More football is not always a good thing. To me, part of the reason the NFL is so popular is because you only get 16 regular season games. Each one is highly anticipated. Perhaps adding only two wouldn't change that in the long run, but I like the way things are right now for the regular season.

As the popularity of the NFL has increased in recent years, the league has looked for more ways to get fans involved. The most recent example is Super Bowl media day. In the past, media day was restricted to an interesting combination of the football, national and not-so-serious media. This year, however, the NFL opened the event up to fans. Amazingly, they sold 7,300 tickets to the event at $25 a pop.

It seems unlikely that you will ever see the NFL Combine become an event where fans can buy tickets and attend in large numbers, but the league is opening it up to some fans this year. Specifically, 250 fans will be offered the opportunity to attend the combine and check out the 40-yard dash and skill drills for quarterbacks and wide receivers.

"They've been asking us to put fans in the stands for the last four years," said Jeff Foster, director of the locally based National Football Scouting. "Obviously this is important to the NFL, so we're excited to partner with them on the opportunity."

For more information and to register for a chance to be selected to attend the NFL Combine, go to 1iota.com.

I don't agree with Roger Goodell on many things, but one area where he seems to clearly side with the fans is on the state of the NFL Pro Bowl. In recent years, the Pro Bowl has become such a joke in terms of the quality of the football being played that many have suggested it be eliminated. Surprisingly, Goodell actually seems open to that possibility if improvements in the quality of play aren't made. He said earlier this month that canceling the game is a consideration, and earlier this week he reiterated that the Pro Bowl needs to change or it could simply be eliminated.

How real is abolishing the Pro Bowl and trying something new?

"Well it goes back to quality. It’s important for us whatever we do that we do it well. That is reflects well on the game and the players and the coaches and the NFL. I don’t think the Pro Bowl the last couple of years reflected well on the NFL or the players. I said to the union leadership that I’ll be meeting with the players at the combine next week to further these discussions that if we can’t improve what we are doing then we’ll have to consider eliminating the game and we are serious about that because we are going to make sure whatever we do is going to be of the highest quality."

I'm a bit skeptical of Goodell's threat to eliminate the game just because the ratings have done well despite the low quality of football that is played in the Pro Bowl. Then again, it is a bit of a black eye on the NFL for a game like that to be so ugly. I suppose most all-star games are similar in terms of the quality of play, but the NFL needs to look at either doing something different or not wasting people's time with the Pro Bowl in the future.

ESPN has made a change to its announcers for Monday Night Football. The usual team of Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden and Ron Jaworski has been downsized to just Tirico and Gruden. ESPN announced the change on Wednesday, explaining that Jaworski will now focus more on in-studio analysis.

Jaworski, the former Philadelphia Eagles standout quarterback, will have a greater year-round presence on ESPN in his new role. In addition to appearing weekly on both Countdown shows and Matchup, Jaworski will make regular appearances on SportsCenter (primarily Sundays and Mondays), NFL Live, NFL Kickoff, Mike & Mike, and the PTI’s “Five Good Minutes”. He will also be featured in ESPN’s annual NFL Draft and Super Bowl week coverage, in addition to having his own NFL-themed SportsCenter Special shows highlighting his expert analysis and X’s and O’s film evaluations.

Jaworski is excellent in this role and does a great job of breaking down film. Some weren't thrilled with his work in the MNF booth, but I thought he did a pretty good job. Gruden, on the other hand, has been aggravating in the past with his constant overrating of players and love for the phrase "this guy." I don't mind him that much, but if they were going to remove someone from the booth, I would've given Gruden the boot.

On Tuesday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell sent out an email with a letter to fans. The purpose of the letter was to thank fans for their support during the 2011 season, as well as to look ahead to the future of the sport. The letter included a link to the website based around the "NFL Evolution" campaign, so I think you can draw your own conclusions about the purpose of the letter.

You can check it out after the jump.

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