List of NFL Commissioner Choices Cut to Five

The NFL announced its five finalists to succeed the retiring Paul Tagliabue as commissioner, naming two attorneys with close ties to the league and two corporate executives to join front-runner Roger Goodell.
Goodell, the NFL's chief operating officer, remained the clear favorite to be elected when the league's 32 team owners meet next week in Chicago. The other finalists selected by an eight-owner search committee are Washington-based attorney Gregg H. Levy, the league's chief outside counsel; Frederick R. Nance, an attorney in Cleveland; Robert L. Reynolds, the vice chairman and chief operating officer of Fidelity Investments; and Mayo A. Shattuck III, the Baltimore-based chairman, president and chief executive of Constellation Energy.
"We've really done a very thorough job," Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, a member of the search committee, said Sunday. "Any of these men is qualified to be commissioner of the NFL."
Each of the five finalists is scheduled to address the owners during a three-day meeting in Chicago beginning next Monday. Jones said the search committee will not make a recommendation to the owners about which candidate to select. Tagliabue, who is retiring after a 17-year reign in which the NFL became the nation's most prosperous sports league, directed the search process and has been careful to try to avoid the sort of stalemate that existed when the owners took seven months to choose between him and fellow finalist Jim Finks in 1989 to succeed Pete Rozelle.
"This is not your normal deal where you have a committee that steps in here and kind of comes up with some decisions," Jones said. "This is truly a presenting of our options to 32 guys. . . . We all know what happened with Rozelle and what happened with Paul, that process that was involved there. . . . I think everybody worked hard and spent a lot of time on this."
Levy, 53, is a partner at Covington & Burling, the firm at which Tagliabue worked before he was elected commissioner. Two years ago, he kept the NFL's draft eligibility rule intact by winning the league's appeal of a ruling in a lawsuit brought by former Ohio State tailback Maurice Clarett. Next to Goodell, he is the closest thing on the list to an internal candidate.
Nance, 52, is the managing partner of the Cleveland office of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey and handled the city's negotiations with the league that secured the return of the Browns franchise in 1999. He was involved in the negotiations for the Browns' $300 million stadium project, and he has represented NBA star LeBron James. Nance, who is African American, is the only minority candidate among the finalists.
Reynolds, 54, has worked for Fidelity for 22 years and was named vice chairman and COO in 2000. Shattuck, 51, is a former investment banker who now heads a company ranked 125th on the Fortune 500.
A candidate needs at least 22 votes among the 32 teams to be elected, and several sources familiar with the owners' deliberations said last week that Goodell had sufficient support to be selected in Chicago. Goodell, 47, joined the league office as an intern in 1982 and worked his way up to being Tagliabue's top lieutenant.
"I believe, stronger than ever, that it will be Roger," said one owner, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the league has discouraged public comments by owners not directly involved with the search.
The search committee, headed by the Pittsburgh Steelers' Dan Rooney and the Carolina Panthers' Jerry Richardson, considered 185 candidates with the aid of a search firm, then conducted face-to-face interviews with 11 candidates last week. League counsel Jeff Pash and Eric Grubman, the NFL's executive vice president of finance and strategic transactions, had been regarded as strong internal candidates but weren't named finalists.....

Scratch one more 2006 first round draft pick holdout as St. Louis has agreed to terms with CB Tye Hill, the 15th overall selection this past April. That leaves just three unsigned first round picks who have still not come to terms including Buffalo DB Donte Whitner, Philadelphia DT Brodrick Bunkley, and Miami DB Jason Allen.....

Arizona will hit the practice field later this morning making the Cardinals the last NFL team to formally open training camp. And all eyes will be on whether QB Matt Leinart is with the rest of the Cardinals when they take the field this morning. Leinart, the 10th player selected overall, had reportedly been in Flagstaff in recent days, but latest reports had Leinart leaving town.
Bengals supp draft pick in camp... It didn't show up on all the national wires, but Cincinnati did sign former Virginia LB Ahmad Brooks, whom the Bengals selected at this summer's supplemental draft with a 2007 3rd round choice, late last week.....

Seattle has signed CB Kelly Jennings, the Seahawks’ #1 pick at the 2006 draft, to a five-year deal in excess of $9.5 million that includes approximately $5 million in guaranteed money.....