Mark Craig

It's the fall of 1987. NFL players are on strike and Houston Oilers coach Jerry Glanville is sitting in a room with officers from the Houston Police Department. They're about to watch a surveillance video of two alleged Oilers leaving the picket line to smash the windows out on a bus that brought Houston's replacement players to their first practice.

NFL fans are dying to know the drop-dead date at which the owners and players must come together to save a full 2011 season. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell won't offer one. We will. Sept. 3.

It would require rushing things, cutting some corners, eliminating two preseason games and some general flying by the seat of one's pants once the regular season starts. We'll call it "The Brett Favre Plan."

The regular season would start Oct. 2, three weeks later than scheduled, and end Jan. 15, two weeks later than scheduled. There would be no bye weeks, no week off before the Super Bowl, and the big game would take place Feb. 12, a week later than scheduled.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Ray Edwards standing in full boxing gear talking about becoming the greatest fighter who ever lived would seem odd if this weren't already the strangest offseason in NFL history.

But here we are in lockout mode. An unsigned 26-year-old pass rusher in the prime of his career is in limbo for who knows how long. Edwards is not allowed to choose his future team and considers his Vikings career over, even if league rules were to declare him a restricted free agent.

"They put a first-round tender on me (a one-year, $2.8 million contract), but even if that holds up, there's no way I will play for less than what my backup got in his new contract," said Edwards, referring to Brian Robison's three-year, $14.1 million deal, which included a $6.5 million signing bonus. "There's no way I would play here."

MINNEAPOLIS -- This is a story about NFL players that has nothing to do with labor, lockouts and lawyers.

It's a story about Minnesota Vikings tackle Bryant McKinnie, yet it shines a light on something other than TMZ, Twitter or the size of the big man's Hollywood bar tab.

No, this is a story about 10 NFL players and their time spent helping on two charitable missions in Africa this month.

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- If Jermichael Finley is a moron, every team needs a moron.

The Green Bay Packers' 23-year-old tight end is the latest prototype in a long line of great athletes who possess the kind of size, strength and speed that blows up traditional coverage schemes. And with Aaron Rodgers as his quarterback, Finley could push the league's ongoing evolution of the tight end position to even greater heights some day.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Samantha Simon has been fearless for as long as her parents can remember.