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ESPN.com - NFL Nation Blog
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ESPN.com presents NFL Nation
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NFL32: A Terrell Owens NFL comeback?
Wendi and Marcellus discuss if T.O. can make his way back to the NFL, Darren talks about the Jets offseason needs, and in Did You Hear That?, Chase Blackburn tells the amazing tale of his road back to the NFL.
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Packers give Aaron Rodgers a new coach
 We've had two coaching developments Wednesday afternoon in the NFC North. We'll start with the Green Bay Packers' apparent shift of assistant Ben McAdoo from tight ends coach to quarterbacks coach, a move first reported by Jason La Canfora of NFL.com.
It was obvious that Packers coach Mike McCarthy had something in mind for McAdoo when he blocked requests from the Miami Dolphins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers to interview him for their offensive coordinator jobs.
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So, what now for the Giants?
 Over at ESPNNewYork.com, they're running one of these interactive "Take 'em or Trash 'em" features, where you can go clicking through the New York Giants' roster and pick which players you'd keep and which players you wouldn't for next year's team. Ohm's keeping everyone but free-agent right tackle Kareem McKenzie, but it's probably not realistic to think the Giants can bring back their Super Bowl champion roster that unscathed.
The Giants appear to have 21 unrestricted free agents, one restricted free agent (cornerback Bruce Johnson) and two exclusive rights free agents (tight ends Bear Pascoe and Jake Ballard).
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Hmmm: Cardinals hire Manning's ex-coach
 Connecting the dots became much easier Wednesday when the Arizona Cardinals announced Frank Reich's hiring to coach their wide receivers.
Reich coached quarterbacks and later wide receivers for the Indianapolis Colts in recent seasons, giving the Cardinals a direct link to Peyton Manning should Manning hit the market this offseason, as expected. Multiple reports have listed the Cardinals among teams likely to pursue the Colts' longtime quarterback.
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Examining how Michael Vick is viewed
 Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick was recently named the most disliked athlete in America, according to a Forbes survey. It's not a new development — Vick has been a somewhat publicly reviled figure since his conviction on dogfighting charges several years ago.
But as Jonathan Tamari writes, it's interesting to note the way the perception of Vick has changed in Philadelphia and around the Eagles. While the outside world continues to hold Vick's dogfighting past against him, in Philadelphia this year he was discussed and analyzed more or less as any quarterback would be: There were still varied opinions on Vick — how responsible was he for his turnovers?
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Questioning Percy Harvin's part-time role
 We're going to get some mileage out of the research I did, and had forwarded to me, for our 2011 All-NFC North team. The first installment is left over from the debate that ultimately led me to choose Green Bay Packers receiver Jordy Nelson over the Minnesota Vikings' Percy Harvin.
I checked out their playing time as part of comparing their production. As it turned out, Nelson and Harvin were on the field for almost exactly the same amount of time.
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2012 NFC West draft primer, Take One
 Welcome to the 2012 NFL season. The games are not yet here, of course, but most teams have long since shifted their mindsets forward.
Tuesday brought a first look at free agency for NFC West teams. Now comes a first look at the draft, to be revisited as teams add and subtract players in free agency.
Thanks to those who left comments suggesting topics for this space. I've targeted a few for future items and drawn on the general thrust — more free agency and draft stuff, please — for this one.
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Will Dolphins chase Packers' free agents?
 Here is a potential clue to tracking the Miami Dolphins in free agency: Watch the Green Bay Packers.
Yes, general manager Jeff Ireland is running the show in Miami. But that doesn't mean Dolphins rookie head coach Joe Philbin won't add some influence about the players he's most familiar with.
Green Bay went 15-1 this season. Here are some key pending free agents for the Packers to keep an eye on:
QB Matt Flynn
TE Jermichael Finley
RB Ryan Grant
C Scott Wells
Philbin worked directly with this group day-to-day as Green Bay's offensive coordinator.
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What to do with Laurent Robinson?
 The Dallas Cowboys didn't see Laurent Robinson coming last summer, but thanks to Miles Austin's hamstrings and the speed with which he and Tony Romo developed a red zone rapport, Robinson became an important part of Dallas' offense. Now, he's an unrestricted free agent, and the team faces a difficult decision on what to do about him.
In the third installment of their position-by-position look at the Cowboys, ESPNDallas.com tackles the wide receivers.
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Too late for sentiment in Manning decision
 Gene Wojciechowski does a nice job in this piece of recounting Joe Montana’s separation from the 49ers and comparing it to what’s unfolding for Peyton Manning with the Indianapolis Colts.
“NFL history repeats itself. The circumstances aren't exactly the same, but they're similar enough. Bottom line: Divorce proceedings between a generational player and the franchise he helped make famous are never easy. ‘It was horribly difficult,’ (Niners team president Carmen) Policy said the other day by phone, describing Montana's departure from the 49ers in 1993.
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