NFL Football

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — NFL rookies are ditching their textbooks for playbooks and getting their first taste of what it’ll be like playing for paychecks instead of school pride.

Get ready for the feeding frenzy. NFL free agency is coming.

On Tuesday, with all 32 teams under the $123 million salary cap, the checkbooks open up. Some clubs, most notably Green Bay and Pittsburgh, barely will participate, while likely letting top receivers Greg Jennings and Mike Wallace leave for huge paydays elsewhere.

That’s just their style, and building from within surely has paid off: each team has won a Super Bowl in the last five seasons.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs should be quite familiar by now.

The two sides spent much of Thursday in negotiations for Reid to become the Chiefs’ coach, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the situation.

PHILADELPHIA — Andy Reid’s worst coaching season with the Philadelphia Eagles ended Monday after 14 years when he was fired by owner Jeffrey Lurie, who said it was time “to move in a new direction.”

NEW YORK — In David O. Russell’s "Silver Linings Playbook," Bradley Cooper plays an unstable former teacher trying to improve himself after exiting a mental institution. When his character, Pat Solitano, consults his otherwise level-headed psychiatrist Dr. Cliff Patel (Anupam Kher) on whether a Philadelphia Eagles’ jersey is appropriate attire for a dinner party, Patel questions which jersey. On hearing that it’s star wide-receiver DeSean Jackson, he responds unequivocally:

"DeSean Jackson is the man."

Capsule previews for Week 9 around the National Football League. All times Mountain

The Skinny: It’s the rarest of battles in the NFL -- quarterbacks with two Super Bowl rings facing off. Ben Roethlisberger, the third-down master vs. Eli Manning, the fourth-quarter wizard.

INDIANAPOLIS — A terminally ill Indianapolis Colts fan will get a final wish Sunday when he attends the team’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.