Woodson wants to take LeBeau for walk down Hall

LATROBE, Pa. — Rod Woodson was determined to make sure his night didn’t pass by without it becoming Dick LeBeau’s night, too.

Woodson, the former Steelers cornerback, turned his own induction speech into a campaign rally for LeBeau’s election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

To Woodson, his former defensive coach — a 14-year cornerback for the Detroit Lions and an innovative NFL coach for 37 seasons — has waited too long to be recognized.

As a player, LeBeau’s 62 interceptions were the seventh-most in NFL history and only nine fewer than Woodson’s 71. Once he began coaching, LeBeau became one of football’s most-copied coordinators, with many versions of the zone blitz defense he first tried in Cincinnati still in use by every NFL team.

To Woodson and many of the Steelers’ current players, LeBeau has done enough to be enshrined as a player or a coach — though he won’t be eligible for induction as a coach until he retires.

“I hope the voters, seriously, get it right. He deserves to be in as a player and, if you don’t put him in as a player, put him in as a contributor,” Woodson said during his Saturday night speech in Canton.

“He deserves it. The voters are going to get tired of me saying it — Dick LeBeau deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.”

LeBeau’s current players quickly picked up on the theme. Steelers safety Troy Polamalu, who rarely shows emotion off the field, became animated when he spoke of LeBeau’s snub.

Polamalu said if players voted for the Hall of Fame, rather than writers and broadcasters, LeBeau would have been inducted years ago.

Panthers’ Smith hopeful to be ready for opener

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Steve Smith walked slowly across campus here Tuesday with his right arm in a sling, facing the prospect he’ll miss several weeks of the preseason.

The Carolina star receiver was subdued, yet also relieved his shoulder injury wasn’t more serious.

“I thought it was broke,” Smith said, “because it started hurting immediately.”

The collision with cornerback Chris Gamble and the ensuing hard fall Monday night in a passing drill during a non-padded practice produced murmurs in the Panthers’ unlucky training camp. A week after starting defensive tackle Maake Kemoeatu was lost for the season with a torn Achilles’ tendon, Panthers coaches and players watched their top playmaker kick his helmet in frustration before being carted to the locker room.

X-rays were negative, and while Smith declined to say if he had separated his shoulder, the four-time Pro Bowl selection appeared confident he’ll be ready for the regular-season opener Sept. 13 against Philadelphia.

“I would hope so,” Smith said. “Once again, I left that (medical) degree at home. So I don’t know the timetable at which I’ll be full go.”

Maybin’s contract tied to other unsigned rookie

PITTSFORD, N.Y. — The slow pace of Buffalo Bills rookie defensive end Aaron Maybin’s contract talks are partly the result of another unsigned first-round pick: San Francisco wide receiver Michael Crabtree.

Former NFL linebacker LaVar Arrington, Maybin’s publicist and friend, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Crabtree’s stalled negotiations are the reason Maybin has missed the first two weeks of training camp and the Bills preseason opener against Tennessee last weekend.

“This Crabtree kid is putting people in this predicament,” Arrington said. “I just think people’s hands are tied until this guy gets around to doing what he’s going to do.”

Crabtree was drafted 10th overall, one pick ahead of Maybin, who like Arrington played college football at Penn State.

With Crabtree unsigned, it makes it difficult to determine Maybin’s value. Rookie contracts are traditionally slotted in descending order of where the player was drafted.

Crabtree’s contract is not the only issue: Four of the five players — including Crabtree — selected ahead of Maybin remain unsigned. That includes No. 9 pick, Green Bay’s B.J. Raji, who is a defensive tackle and likely to have a comparable contract to Maybin, because they’re both defensive linemen.

Arrington expressed hope that a deal can be reached soon, because Maybin is eager to start practicing.

Giants’ hero Tyree vents frustrations

ALBANY, N.Y. — David Tyree’s helmet helped him make “The Catch” during the New York Giants’ Super Bowl upset of the New England Patriots in 2008.

It’s not always his friend. He threw his headgear to the ground Monday, frustrated after dropping two consecutive passes during morning practice.

“A lot of frustration, man. Not happy with my performance, flat out. Not ashamed to say it,” he said.

Tyree, who has not played in a game since the one that made him famous, is trying to come back from injuries that cost him the 2008 season. He had knee surgery after the Super Bowl and was placed on the physically unable to perform list when training camp opened in 2008. A hamstring injury kept him on the sidelines and the Giants placed him on injured reserve in early November.

Now back on the field, the seven-year veteran out of Syracuse isn’t pleased with his own early returns.

Tyree dropped a sideline pass from David Carr during 11-on-11 drills, then missed an opportunity to make a leaping catch after his defender fell down. That’s when the helmet came off and got sent skittering across the grass.

“There’s some frustrating things going on with the body, but when it comes to catching the football, that’s what I’m paid to do,” Tyree said.

He bounced back to haul in a few throws, including a nifty sideline catch in tight coverage, drawing praise afterward from coach Tom Coughlin and quarterback Eli Manning.

Having to sit out the season after his Super Bowl heroics was particularly frustrating to Tyree, who held on to Manning’s fourth-quarter desperation pass by securing the ball against his helmet as he fell to the ground with Patriots safety Rodney Harrison draped all over him. What became known as “The Catch” set up Manning’s winning touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress in the final minute.

Singletary sticking with physical camp

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The key statistics for the 49ers so far in training camp: 19 practices, 18 in pads, three “nutcracker” drills and seven injuries lasting a week or longer.

So far, tight end Delanie Walker (concussion), cornerback Terall Brown (toe), linebacker Patrick Willis (foot), running back Michael Robinson (groin), guard David Baas (foot), linebacker Parys Haralson (hip flexor) and wide receiver Brandon Jones (fractured shoulder) have missed or are expected to miss a week or more of camp, with Jones out for eight weeks.

That’s led to talk in the local media about the physicality of San Francisco’s training camp. But coach Mike Singletary said no when asked if he’d consider cutting back on the physical nature in the face of mounting injuries. “Not one bit,” he said.

Singletary has backed off his “nutcracker” drill, which pits two similarly sized players between blocking pads spaced three feet apart. The players are instructed to run through each other.

The drill gets so intense coaches frequently jump in after a few seconds to keep players from fighting. However, after Baas went down last week with his foot injury (he’s out indefinitely) Singletary has yet to schedule another “nutcracker.”

Agent: ‘No chance’ of Vick signing with Redskins

ASHBURN, Va. — It seems “a lot of teams” are interested in Michael Vick. The Washington Redskins, apparently, aren’t one of them.

Vick intrigue spiked Tuesday morning when his agent, Joel Segal, made an appearance at a Redskins training camp practice. Segal, however, said he had dropped by to visit his Redskins clients, including Jason Campbell, DeAngelo Hall and LaRon Landry.

“No. No chance,” Segal said when asked about the possibility of Vick signing with Washington.

In an interview with ESPN 980, Segal said he was “very optimistic” that Vick would sign with an NFL team soon.

“There are a lot of teams interested. ... It’s not a matter of if, but when,” Segal said. “And Mike’s excited with the opportunity that the commissioner has given him. He’s ready to go help a club win.”

Vick was conditionally reinstated by the NFL commissioner Roger Goodell last month after the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback completed a 23-month sentence for running a dogfighting ring.

The Redskins have frequently been mentioned as a potential suitor for Vick because of the team’s tenuous quarterback situation. Campbell is entering the final year of his contract, and owner Dan Snyder spent the offseason pursuing alternatives, including Jay Cutler in a possible trade and Mark Sanchez in the draft.