FINAL BYE WEEK

The final four NFL teams get their byes this weekend, meaning that as of Tuesday morning, all 32 teams will have played the same number of games. And that should bring the current selection order for the 2007 draft into clearer focus. In particular, there could be a new team sitting on the #1 pick in the hypothetical ‘if the draft were held today’ selection order for the upcoming draft. Arizona would currently would have the top pick, however, the 1-7 Cardinals are one of the teams with byes this weekend. And with Miami, which also has just one win but plays a weaker schedule than Arizona, in tough later today with a road game against unbeaten Chicago, the Dolphins could move ahead of the Cardinals barring a huge upset. In fact, there will have to be a big upset or two across the league for there to be much other movement among teams currently with top picks for this year’s draft. Detroit, the other remaining one-win team, for example, hosts 5-2 Atlanta. Same story for the nine 2-5 teams. Buffalo has a winnable home game with 3-4 Green Bay, but all the other two-win teams are scheduled against teams with winning records this weekend. San Francisco, which would have the 4th pick is home to Minnesota, Houston is at the Giants, Pittsburgh hosts Denver, Cleveland is at San Diego, Tennessee is at Jacksonville, Washington is home to Dallas and Tampa Bay is home to New Orleans. The other two-win team, Oakland, will be at Seattle on Monday night. The weekend’s feature game is the NBC Sunday nighter when Indianapolis puts its unbeaten record on the line against the Patriots in New England, while Cincinnati will be at Baltimore in a battle for the AFC North division lead.....

Agent Leigh Steinberg said Williams -- whose fiancée recently gave birth to his fourth child -- is teaching yoga classes in Toronto, eager to return to the Dolphins next season (he's due $670,000 in his contract's final year) and soon will co-author a book on his life.....

It's looking more and more like Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher won't be back with the Steelers next season. He wants to spend more time with his family. With the team struggling at 2-5, that opportunity to get away may come a lot sooner than most Steelers fans could have imagined.....


According to the Jacksonville Times-Union, Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio reiterated on Friday that Byron Leftwich is the starter at quarterback when healthy. Backup David Garrard, for the second consecutive week, will start Sunday when the Jaguars host the Tennessee Titans at Alltel Stadium. But that doesn't mean Leftwich has lost his starting job for the season, Del Rio said. "Byron [Leftwich] continues to be our quarterback," Del Rio said. "I've said that for four years. If there's a change, I'll let everyone know. I've got my starting quarterback that's being told to heal."


The Jaguars waived receiver/kick returner Chad Owens on Friday, in addition to signing running back Rich Alexis from the practice squad to the active roster.....


CFB NEWS AND NOTES

Florida has reportedly kicked DT Marcus Thomas, one of the top prospects at the position for the 2007 draft, prior to yesterday's game with Vanderbilt. No reason for the suspension was given other than he had not met his responsibilities to the team; Thomas, though, had been suspended indefinitely in September for a second violation of the school's substance-abuse policy, but was reinstated in October and played the past three weeks......