There hasn't been a bigger stickler for two-a-day practices and plenty of hitting in training camp than Carolina head coach John Fox.

Well, Fox has backed off this year, actually having only one practice a day for several days this hot summer in Spartanburg, S.C. It is a sign of the times in the NFL because of all the work most players do year-round to remain in top shape.

In Tampa Bay's camp, whenever Jon Gruden has an afternoon practice for special team players only most of his veterans have the afternoon off.

More on Walsh

There will be a private service for legendary San Francisco coach Bill Walsh next Thursday at Stanford, where he was once a head coach and also athletic director during his career. The 49ers are considering a service for the general public next Friday at Candlestick Park. Every 49er helmet will carry his BW initials during this season.

One very important item I failed to mention when reacting to Walsh's death on Monday was how integral he was to the emergence of African-American coaches in the NFL. Before the NFL initiated its own program, Walsh invited many black coaches to San Francisco to learn from him and his staff during training camps. Walsh was such a great teacher, and he helped so many of them to matriculate into the NFL or secure college positions, like Denny Green (Northwestern) and Ty Willingham (Stanford).

It is simply another example of what a great man Walsh was in the history of pro football and coaching. Among head coaches he must rank alongside Vince Lombardi when it comes to listing the greatest of all time.

There is no debate in Tampa Bay. Jeff Garcia, now 37, is clearly the starting quarterback of the Tampa Bay Bucs. Talking with Garcia on Monday, I can also say that he was torn about leaving Philadelphia, where he helped lead the Eagles into the playoffs last season.

"I had such a great time there and everything about Philadelphia was very comfortable for me," Garica said. "The players, the fans and I knew that offense pretty well. My dad says otherwise, but I think I would have been fine competing with Donovan (McNabb). But coming here figures to be my last stop and I'm hoping to make it a great one."

The key to this move to Tampa was head coach Jon Gruden.

"I always wanted to play for him," Garcia said. "I'd watch him on NFL Films rattling off those plays and couldn't believe how long the verbiage was. And his intensity. I mean, too, I've played in the west-coast offense for a long time and Philly was a lot like it was in San Francisco for me. All these west-coast coaches are different. Mike Holmgren has made it very basic and very easy for a quarterback. Andy Reid and Steve Mariucci make it a little more complicated, but Jon has added three times as much stuff. I didn't think it was possible to do. And his playbook? Well, it's twice as much as everyone else's."

The Bucs are under the NFL radar, but there's definitely talent here. Maurice Stovall, a second-year receiver from Notre Dame, has stood out in OTAs and the first few days of training camp. "He's a man already," Garcia said of the 6-foot-5 Stovall.

Then there is David Boston, who is attempting to make another comeback after failing to play anywhere last season.

"I tell you he's a 180 percent better than last year," said Bucs veteran Ronde Barber of Boston. "Today he makes our team; he's been very impressive."

And Joey Galloway? Well, Joey still runs like he's 23 instead of 35.

There has been some rancor around the team because of the release of Simeon Rice. The team's view is that Rice's shoulder remains messed up or they would have kept him regardless of the $7 million salary. If they wanted to dump him simply to unload the salary, they would have done it months ago when the club could have used it to sign someone else.

"I tell you, we're going to miss him in the locker room," Barber said of Rice. "We all know this is a business and I'm going to trust our administration on this one. You know the saying, players play, coaches coach and everything else takes care of itself."

The two most impressive players after three days of camp have been ex-Colt linebacker Cato June and guard Davin Joseph, last year's first-round pick. Joseph has been dominating in practices thus far. After years of struggling, the Bucs might actually be okay this season on the offensive line.

Culpepper's Price

If he really wants to play this season, Daunte Culpepper will have to alter his negotiating stance. The word is that Culpepper wants to sign for only one season and wants about $6.5 million. Any team seriously considering Culpepper would prefer a multi-year deal. Why would any team want to pay that much, then have Culpepper play at a high level and then sell himself in 2008 to the highest bidder?

His price doesn't make sense in those terms even though the NFL average for a top quarterback is now around $9 million annually.

Curiously, when the Bucs met with Culpepper it was in an airplane hangar and no footballs were tossed around.

Trading Strahan

Few NFL people really believe that Michael Strahan wants to retire; most believe he simply wants to recoup some of that $15 million he lost in his divorce settlement. For example, Strahan's after-football career appears to be in a television studio and none of the major networks currently has an opening that would pay him $1 million or more. His Giants salary calls for $4 million this season, the next to last year of what was a blockbuster contract when Strahan signed it. His deal was heavily front-loaded and for two full seasons stood as the benchmark for players at his position. Remember, when Strahan signed his current deal, the Giants were criticized a bit for paying so much.

But can and would the Giants really trade Strahan? Going someplace else, like Washington, is the only way that Strahan can get a salary bump, something he feels he deserves.

"I wouldn't be interested in giving him $7 or $8 million a year," one general manager told me. "How can you do that for someone who is 35 and coming off an injury? I agree that he has huge marquee value. You are also right in saying the Redskins, maybe even the Broncos, would do something like that if they could but the compensation would be fairly low."

The Giants should have been proactive in the Strahan situation. They should have either reworked the contract, like reducing his base salary while adding big incentives so that he could earn more this season if he played and was productive. In lieu of that, they should have given him permission to seek a trade months ago. Or, at least before they moved Mathias Kiwanuka from defensive end to linebacker.

OK, I messed up when I wrote Braylon Edwards was your first pick last season. However, you also are aware of the significance of my comments. Edwards was the third overall choice two years ago just like Joe Thomas was this year. And I am sure that even Cleveland fans know that a quarterback (rookie of the year Vince Young was the third overall pick last year) and any skilled offensive player tends to be more valuable to a team's offense than an offensive tackle. I like Thomas, but should he really receive quarterback-like money? Thomas signed for a year less than Gaines Adams, the fourth overall choice, did with Tampa Bay, but his bonus was $4 million more than Adams. This is the rub for Brady Quinn. Should he really be slotted or should he be paid like a top quarterback in this draft.

The Cleveland Browns apparently are desperate for a winner. Two years ago they overpaid first pick Braylon Edwards and this week they did it again with top choice Wisconsin offensive tackle Joe Thomas.

And the impact is considerable. Cleveland's two deals probably mean a long holdout for receiver Calvin Johnson and the Detroit Lions. Johnson, considered by many as the best player in the draft, wants a huge raise over those Cleveland numbers, plus agent Bus Cook has to find out what the Raiders pay No. 1 pick JaMarcus Russell. The word is it may take less than a week for the Raiders to sign Russell.

But the other issue is quarterback Brady Quinn. The Browns may want to slot him, but agent Tom Condon has no incentive to sign Quinn to anything less than what a top rookie quarterback gets. And despite Quinn's happiness with potentially being a Brown, he's in no hurry to sign anything. The Ohio media can rip him all they want; Quinn is immune from criticism based on his free-fall in April's draft. The Notre Dame quarterback heard enough negative stuff about his delivery, accuracy and ability to last a lifetime.

In fact, the Browns might have goofed by not striking some contract parameters with Condon/Quinn during the draft. When GM Phil Savage was positioning himself to make a trade with the Dallas Cowboys, he should have started negotiating a contract with Condon, too. Why waste next year's first-round draft pick if Quinn is a long holdout and therefore isn't prepared fully to play this season?

Condon and Quinn are holding all the cards in these Cleveland negotiations. If the Browns don't meet their price, it makes sense for Quinn to sit out the season and enter next year's draft. It can't go any worse for him in 2008 as it did this season.

Lombardi with Broncos

Mike Lombardi, the Raiders' top personnel executive for many years who was fired and seemingly blamed for everything that went wrong in Oakland the last couple of seasons even if it wasn't all his fault, is now working for the Denver Broncos and Coach Mike Shanahan. It is a good move for both men. Lombardi knows everything about Oakland's personnel - and we all know how much Shanahan detests Al Davis - and it's a good move for Lombardi, who now resides in the same AFC West division and can further prove to Davis that he's a solid personnel man.

The move had been rumored for months, but Lombardi just started work on Friday.

Where will Rice land?

The Bucs were definitely worried about pass rusher Simeon Rice's surgical shoulder, enough that they didn't want to be responsible for his $7 million salary this season. That's why they opted to not place Rice on PUP (physically unable to perform) and save a roster spot for him like say the Patriots did with Richard Seymour earlier in the week.

The inside word is that Rice is more than a month away from testing the shoulder. Is he still worth $7 million? I don't think so.

The obvious place is Detroit, where former Tampa Bay line coach Rod Marinelli is the head coach. Supposedly, GM Matt Millen has some interest, but Marinelli is not pushing any deal. The Washington Redskins are a likely candidate and possibly any 3-4 teams who may need a situational pass rusher on third downs. Rice doesn't really make sense for the New York Giants, who are facing the possibility of being without Michael Strahan. When healthy, Strahan is one of the game's most complete defensive ends whereas Rice has evolved into a rush specialist.

But it's real possible that Rice, if he does play this season, could be looking at a $2 million payday, including a slight bonus.

If Michael Vick was your employee, what would you do? If he worked with you, would you want him sitting in the next cubicle, eating at the same lunch table?

If your answer is, I don't know, then you understand the predicament facing NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Falcons owner Arthur Blank, considering Vick hasn't been found guilty nor has he accepted a plea. In America, Vick is innocent until a jury or a judge says otherwise.

Now the NFL may be in America, but the same basic laws don't necessarily apply. Pro football is as much entertainment as it is sports. You say or do something stupid, you could lose your job. Remember, a racist remark by former Dodgers executive Al Campanis on ABC's Nightline years ago? Campanis seemed color-blind to me whenever I interviewed him, but his job and career were essentially over.

In sports, the rules are made by the fans, the people who buy the tickets and sit at home by the millions, watching on television. Public opinion is serving like a jury on the Vick matter. Many fans think he's guilty or at least responsible -- the conspiracy charge comes into play here -- of knowing what occurred on his former Virginia property. They surmise that he must have been aware of what was happening.

No national survey has been taken, but Goodell and Blank both believe that the majority of fans don't want to see Vick playing until he's proven to be innocent of these repulsive dog-killing charges. This is why Goodell has put his own investigators on the Vick case. He needs to know how strong the government's case is against Vick. Blank wanted to suspend Vick for the first four games of the season before the league asked to wait until more information on the case was revealed.

The game has endured for decades, now in its 88th season. Players come and go. We cheer them and boo them and the very best are even enshrined in Canton. But mostly we want our stars to be good people, men you can introduce to your daughters or your wife. And right now much of America doesn't want Vick in the same living room with them, either in person or on TV.

Finally, Blank and the Falcons wouldn't have this big financial headache -- whether or not to release the quarterback -- if they hadn't been in such a rush to re-do Vick's contract in 2004, giving him almost $34 million over the past three years. His original contract would have been ending this year and the salary-cap accelerations would have been nominal.

Thanks to Faneca

The Pittsburgh Steelers have grown weary of Pro Bowl guard Alan Faneca's complaints about being underpaid, and his negative vibes toward the front office actually helped safety Troy Polamalu's bid for a new contract. How's that? Troy kept his mouth shut.

The Faneca backlash created an opening for Polamalu, who is truly respected by his peers and coaches, and it led to the richest contract ever for an NFL safety. Over five years, Polamalu has the chance to earn $33 million. He will collect almost $15 million over the next two years, more than double what he would have received if he played on the final year of his contract and then the projected franchise number if the Steelers decided to that in 2008.

Polamalu's deal is more than $5 million better than what Baltimore's Ed Reed signed.

Gallery at guard

When Robert Gallery was selected at the top of the first round by the Raiders in 2004, most scouts thought he was next great offensive tackle. Well, Gallery has struggled at that position and now he will start training camp at left guard even though owner Al Davis would prefer him at right tackle. Davis makes the draft picks and rookie head coach Lane Kiffin is basically saying that Davis made a huge personnel blunder. No team drafts a guard that high in the first round.

What is compounding the offensive line moves in Oakland is that new line coach Tom Cable is also changing the blocking scheme. He's switching to the Alex Gibbs' approach  -- you know, that chop-blocking style that defensive linemen abhor -- and the Oakland offensive linemen aren't that athletic. Art Shell found that out the hard way last season. It will be interesting if the switch really works. But right now, two players listed as guards, Barry Sims and Paul McQuistan, are the starting offensive tackles.

Despite Coach Jeff Fisher's positive remarks that he wants a new contract with the Tennessee Titans, there have been no negotiations on extending his contract beyond this season. Technically, the Titans picked up the option on Fisher for this season, which is about $5.4 million. If he doesn't re-sign, Fisher would be the hottest candidate behind Bill Cowher if unemployed in 2008 regardless of how his team performs this season.

Fisher, co-chair of the NFL's Competition Committee, is well respected in NFL ownership circles. With the assumption that Cowher could be headed to Cleveland next season, Fisher could be in play with the New York Giants, Washington Redskins and maybe even the Dallas Cowboys depending how Wade Phillips' season goes.

You can bet the next month or so will be crucial to the Titans and Fisher. It makes sense that the coach would like a long-term contract in place prior to the start of the regular season. Otherwise, it makes a lot of sense for him to coach out his deal, considering the potential opportunities next year.

Ravens make sense for Culpepper

You can add the Baltimore Ravens to the Daunte Culpepper sweepstakes because of the brittle nature of starter Steve McNair and the disappointing career of backup Kyle Boller, who is in the last year of his contract. McNair managed most games very well last season, but Baltimore lacked an explosive offense, which lessens any playoff hopes against such high-scoring outfits such as Indianapolis, New England and San Diego.

If Culpepper's knee is right, he would give the Ravens a big edge in the pocket where McNair is no longer the scrambler he was during the early parts of his Tennessee career.