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MIAMI — Chicago linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer is among another group of active NFL players who have agreed to donate their brains to concussion research upon their deaths.



Here’s the full report from the Associated Press. Hillenmeyer has had a vested interested in concussions since suffering one in the season opener against Green Bay in 2006. At the time, he said: “I’ve got my mom and girlfriend sending me 50 articles off the Internet about all the long-term effects of concussions. But that’s not something that I’m thinking about. I know the doctors wouldn’t let me play if they thought there was any greater risk of me getting another one than with anybody else out there.”



Other players who recently joined Hillenmeyer include Zach Thomas and Kyle Turley.

MIAMI — The Pro Bowl experience might have been bittersweet for a couple of elite defensive linemen.



The Patriots’ Vince Wilfork and the Cardinals’ Darnell Dockett both want new deals. Wilfork has been outspoken recently. Dockett has spoken out in the past, but he generally kept a lower profile on the matter during the 2009 season.



I caught up with Dockett after the Pro Bowl and came away convinced he’ll set his sights on leaving in free agency if the Cardinals let him reach the final year of his deal — 2011 — without an extension.



“They have to be fair to me,” Dockett said.



Pro Bowls feature some of the NFL’s highest-paid stars. While Wilfork and Dockett are earning millions, they’re not making close to what many of their Pro Bowl peers are commanding, and that frustrates them.



Another Cardinals player, Antrel Rolle, should know his fate after March 1. The Cardinals owe him a $4 million bonus if Rolle is on the roster past that date.



If Arizona were to pay the bonus, Rolle would remain under contract with an $8.1 million salary and nearly $13.7 million salary-cap figure (if there is a salary cap, which seems unlikely). If the Cardinals were to pass on the bonus, they would in effect be terminating Rolle’s contract. Rolle would then be subject to waivers, which he would likely clear. At that point, Rolle would be free to sign with any team — circumventing restrictions on unrestricted free agency affecting other members of the 2005 draft class.



While unrestricted free agents with fewer than six years of experience revert to restricted free agents in an uncapped year, players clearing waivers become free to sign with any team because they do not qualify as UFAs. Rolle would fall into that second camp if the Cardinals decided against paying the bonus.



“Something has to be done by March 1 or else I become a free agent,” Rolle said Sunday night. “Everything is going to take care of itself. It has to.”

Pro Football Hall of Famer Mike Haynes and current Chicago Bears linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer are among more than a dozen NFL players who have pledged to donate their brain and spinal cord tissue for concussion research.

MIAMI — Just received word that the Saints have switched spots for their practice and media session this afternoon. We’re having some weather issues in South Florida and they now will be at the Miami Dolphins’ practice facility in Davie. A flash-flood warning just scrolled across the televisions screen.



Kind of disappointing because I was hoping to wear my Penn State hat on the University of Miami campus. Yeah, I know, I’m a child of the 80s.



Anyway, I’ll head up to Davie in a bit and bring you whatever comes out of the interview sessions.

MIAMI — Liz Merrill drew a tough assignment.



Find us 18 things we don’t know about Peyton Manning, her editors suggested.



I kind of winced when she told me about it before the AFC Championship Game kicked off last Sunday. Sure, I wanted to learn them, too. I just worried about how successful a dig even a fine archeologist like Liz could pull off in a week.



It was a tough assignment because so many key people don’t care to talk and so many who do aren’t willing to be truly candid, because so many others have set out to provide us with nuggets we don’t know about a guy who’s been named to 10 Pro Bowl teams and owns four MVP awards.



So I really enjoyed this piece.



Here’s my favorite part:

He has a huge fan in New Orleans

Every summer, Manning makes a trip back to his old high school to do some offseason conditioning. The kids at the school know the drill now, to leave Peyton alone so he can work.

So Jonathan Fisher would do that, stare for a minute maybe, then lift his weights as if nobody was there. Fisher headed home after a workout last summer when his phone rang. It was his coach, Nelson Stewart. Could he come back to school? Peyton wants to throw to him.

“I’m not going to lie,” Fisher says. “I was speeding pretty bad to get back.”

Manning probably could’ve found a bigger target that day. Fisher stands all of 5-foot-7 and 165 pounds, and is nicknamed “Fishbone.” But when the quarterback threw to him for an hour in the wilting Louisiana heat, Fisher caught nearly every one of his passes.

Manning didn’t say much during the workout. When it was over, he shook the kid’s hand and said thank you.

“I know this sounds cliché,” Fisher says, “but he was just like a normal person. Not some superstar.”

MIAMI — The charter flight carrying the New Orleans Saints should be arriving at Miami International Airport right about now.



The Saints are going to get checked into their hotel. Then, they’re scheduled to have a light workout followed by media availability at the University of Miami at about 3:45 p.m. ET. I’ll be heading down to Coral Gables in a bit and will bring you whatever comes out of the media session.

MIAMI — The fans have spoken: The overnight ratings for Sunday night’s Pro Bowl were 39 percent higher than last year’s event. You like the Pro Bowl, so I can now write a guilt-free follow-up post on it.



One of the cool things to see at this event is really good players in awe of other really good players. That was the case Sunday with Green Bay safety Nick Collins, who reveled in the opportunity to meet and discuss life with one of his predecessors: Former Packers safety Darren Sharper, now with New Orleans.



Sharper didn’t practice or play in the game because the Saints are in the Super Bowl, but he arrived with the rest of the Saints contingent Sunday afternoon and watched the game from the sideline.



Collins made a point to seek out Sharper during brief interludes in the game. Sharper was not named to the Pro Bowl last season, which was Collins’ first appearance.



“He is one my idols,” Collins said, “and I was fortunate to talk to him.”



Collins and Sharper have different approaches to the game, but I think it’s interesting that Collins has essentially matched Sharper’s production over the first five seasons of their careers. For Pro Bowl and postseason awards purposes, safeties are often measured by interceptions and touchdown returns. Here’s how it the two compare:



Darren Sharper (1997-2001): 20 interceptions, two touchdowns in 78 games

Nick Collins (2005-09): 17 interceptions, four touchdowns in 77 games



Collins has a long way to go to match Sharper’s career longevity and production, but he’s off to the right start. He didn’t have much to say about his looming contract expiration — he played out the final year of his rookie contract in 2009 — but there is no indication the Packers plan anything other than to at least offer him a high tender as a restricted free agent.

Not long ago, I was chatting with a member of the Mike Shanahan regime in Denver.



The former Denver employee and I were discussing what decision marked the beginning of the end for Shanahan’s 14-season run in Denver.



After tossing around a few ideas, we came to a consensus: Larry Coyer.



Shanahan should never have fired Coyer, now the defensive coordinator with the Indianapolis Colts, as his defensive coordinator. Shanahan’s Broncos never rebounded from his decision to jettison the innovative, successful and popular Coyer after a late-season collapse in 2006.



The Broncos’ defense was in a shambles in 2007 and 2008. After Coyer was fired, Shanahan hired Jim Bates to run the defense. He was fired 12 months later. Then, Bob Slowik was promoted to defensive coordinator for the 2008 season. He was fired along with Shanahan. Thursday, second-year Denver coach Josh McDaniels promoted linebackers coach Don Martindale to be the defensive coordinator, replacing Mike Nolan.



Martindale is Denver’s fifth defensive coordinator in five seasons.



I wonder if Shanahan would still be the coach in Denver if he hadn’t fired Coyer?



Coyer’s units were always strong. He was blitz master and he made terrific in-game adjustments.



Coyer, of course, has moved on nicely. He is six days away from leading the Colts’ defense in the Super Bowl against New Orleans.

Looks like the Buffalo Bills monitor my AFC East chat every Friday afternoon.



A reader asked a question about how Bills right guard Eric Wood was doing in his recovery from a mangled left leg, and — voila! — the club got him on the phone to provide an update.



Wood’s goal is to be back on the field for training camp, but even in his own words it sounds like wishful thinking.



“I do know mentally that another year off could possibly happen, but I don’t want to think about that,” Wood said from his offseason home in Louisville. “Hopefully Bills fans don’t want to think about that either. It is partially reality, but as far as it feels now, it feels fine walking around on it.



“Right now if I was planning on being on the PUP list it wouldn’t be as easy to go to work and go to rehab every day if I didn’t have hopes of getting back for training camp. As far as we’re concerned I’m going to be back for training camp, and that’s the way I want it to be.”



Wood, the 28th overall selection in last year’s draft, was a reason for hope on a desolate offensive line — until Nov. 22.



Jacksonville Jaguars defensive tackle Montavious Stanley inadvertently rolled into Wood’s lower left leg while trying to sack Ryan Fitzpatrick. Wood’s tibia and fibula snapped.



Wood had a rod inserted in his leg. Four screws rejoined the bones. He was in a wheelchair for one month and only recently began to walk with his leg in a boot.



“I have a lot of time before training camp, which is my goal to be back by,” Wood said. “So I’m not pushing it too hard. I’d love to be back for OTAs, but I think everyone has seen the YouTube video of my leg. So I don’t know how realistic that is. We’ll see.”



Wood said he is being extra cautious because of a case he’s familiar with.



Oakland Raiders running back Michael Bush, a teammate of Wood’s at the University of Louisville, suffered a broken leg as a senior and rushed to get back in time for the NFL scouting combine. Bush needed more surgery after the combine. He didn’t get drafted.



“At this point it’s about me and my career,” Wood said. “The Bills have been nothing but supportive of me and they’ve been doing anything they possibly can to make sure I have everything I need. They’ve let me go back home and they fly me up to Buffalo for checkups whenever needed.



“I couldn’t ask anything more of the Bills, but it is about me at this point. I have to do what’s best for me as far as when I can come back.”