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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, March 28, 2001


Seahawks talking to Jerry Rice

Associated Press

PALM DESERT, Calif. — Wide receiver Jerry Rice, who is leaving the San Francisco 49ers for salary cap reasons, met last week with the Seattle Seahawks.

Rice, who holds NFL receiving records for career yards and touchdowns, met with Seahawks coach and general manager Mike Holmgren in Seattle on Friday, team spokesman Gary Wright said.

Holmgren was the 49ers' offensive coordinator in the late 1980s and early '90s, when Rice was in his prime.

The Seahawks and Oakland Raiders have shown the most interest in Rice, who would like to be a starter next season. Rice, who turns 39 in October, had 75 catches for 805 yards and seven touchdowns for the 49ers last season, his 16th in the NFL.

Keeping Rice would cost the 49ers $2.5 million against the salary cap. Rice turned down a $1 million offer from the team.


Realignment talks: For the first time since it decided to add Houston as its 32nd team, the NFL had a candid discussion yesterday on how to realign into four eight-team divisions.

Surprise: The realignment plans don't appear that difficult to resolve.

"The NFC East and Central and the AFC East and West seem pretty well set," commissioner Paul Tagliabue said as he unveiled seven of the dozen or so plans under consideration at the owners meeting in Palm Desert, Calif. "The more difficult decisions are in the others."

There seems to be a pretty clear consensus in the seven plans unveiled, with expansion Houston going into the AFC, and Seattle — or perhaps San Diego — switching to the NFC to balance the conferences.

Two NFC divisions look set.

One is the East with Dallas, the New York Giants, Philadelphia and Washington (Arizona would shift to the West). The other is the Central as it was before Tampa Bay joined the NFL in 1976 — Minnesota, Detroit, Green Bay and Chicago.

The AFC would keep the basic configuration of Buffalo, New England, the New York Jets and Miami in the East, with Kansas City, Denver, San Diego and Oakland in the West.

All are part of Option A1, which many league and team officials consider the most likely.

The other divisions in that plan would be Baltimore, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Cleveland in the AFC North; Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville and Tennessee in the AFC South; Arizona, St. Louis, San Francisco and Seattle in the NFC West; and Atlanta, Carolina, New Orleans and Tampa Bay in the NFC South.

Most of the other scenarios are minor variations of that, flip-flopping Houston and Baltimore in one plan, Indianapolis and Baltimore in another.

Houston is scheduled to rejoin the league for the 2002 season. The deadline for realignment is June 1.


Cowboys Banking on it: Dallas may have found Troy Aikman's successor.

Free agent Tony Banks, who began last season as Baltimore's starting quarterback, is talking with the Cowboys about a one-year deal, a team official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"He's the guy we've targeted, and he's the guy we want," Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones told The Dallas Morning News. "We're going to get this done."

Banks, 27, was Trent Dilfer's backup when the Ravens won the Super Bowl. He probably will get a one-year deal filled with incentives. The base salary will be around $500,000.

The Cowboys cut Aikman, a 12-year veteran who won three Super Bowls, this month for salary cap reasons and health concerns. Aikman, 34, was due a $7 million bonus and an extension through 2007 if he had still been on the Dallas roster March 8.