NFL NEWS AND NOTES

Just a day or so after trading incumbent starting LT Wayne Gandy to Atlanta, New Orleans filled the gap in their offensive line from within by switching RT Jammal Brown, the team’s #1 pick at last year’s draft, over to the left side. Whether this move is enough to change the Saints plans for the 2006 draft, though, remains to be seen. The Saints have the second overall pick in the draft where one of their options is Virginia OT D’Brickashaw Ferguson. Indeed, new Saints’ head coach Sean Payton had some nice words for Ferguson saying that the former Cavaliers’ star " has tremendous athleticism and he's a sharp kid. He's got bright future. Certainly he's a good player." Ferguson, though, probably isn’t quite as highly rated as North Carolina State DE Mario Williams, the #2 rated player in the 2006 draft class behind USC RB Reggie Bush.


Former Steelers, Giants lineman Jim Clack dies at 58

GREENSBORO, N.C. (April 7, 2006) -- Jim Clack, a guard on two Super Bowl-winning Pittsburgh Steelers teams in the 1970s, died of heart failure. He was 58.
Clack had fought neck and throat cancer for about four years before his death at Moses Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro, wife Susan Clack said.
Clack, who helped the Steelers win Super Bowls following the 1974 and 1975 seasons, played in 146 NFL games between 1971 and 1981. He played for Pittsburgh for seven season before joining the New York Giants in 1978 and playing for four more years.
Born in Rocky Mount, Clack attended Wake Forest and entered the school's hall of fame in 1991. He was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.
He returned to North Carolina after his football career, developing commercial and residential real estate and owning a restaurant. He started a sales training business and worked as a motivational speaker.
Clack also is survived by his stepchildren, Joseph and Lindsay Curtis, both of Wilmington.
A funeral is scheduled for April 10 at Cornerstone Baptist Church with burial at Westminster Gardens in Greensboro. A memorial service in scheduled for April 11 at Lakeside Baptist Church in Rocky Mount.

2006 NFL calendar

April 21 -- Signing period ends for restricted free agents.
April 28 -- Deadline for old club to exercise right of first refusal to restricted free agents.
April 29-30 -- NFL Draft, New York City.
May 10-12 -- NFL Coaches Career Development Symposium, Orlando.
May 20 -- NFL Europe League regular season ends.
May 21-24 -- NFL Spring Meeting, Denver.
May 27 -- World Bowl XIV, Düsseldorf, Germany.
June 1 -- Deadline for old clubs to send tender to unsigned unrestricted free agents to receive exclusive negotiating rights for rest of season if player is not signed by another club by July 22.
June 1 -- Deadline for old clubs to send tender to unsigned restricted free agents or to extend qualifying offer to retain exclusive negotiating rights.
June 15 -- Deadline for old clubs to withdraw original qualifying offer to unsigned restricted free agents and still retain exclusive negotiating rights by substituting tender of 110 percent of previous year's salary.
June 25-28 -- NFL Rookie Symposium, Carlsbad, Calif.
Late July -- Training camps open.
July 22 -- Signing period ends at 4 p.m. ET for unrestricted free agents who received June 1 tender.
Aug. 6 -- Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, Canton, Ohio.
Aug. 10-14 -- First preseason weekend.
Aug. 29 -- Roster cutdown to maximum of 65 players.
Sept. 2 -- Roster cutdown to maximum of 53 players.
Sept. 7-11 -- Kickoff 2006 Weekend.