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NFL Network’s Mike Lombardi reports that the Saints are “not even contemplating” releasing Reggie Bush, despite an impending $8M salary.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -The focus on head injuries in pro football is turning to this year’s potential draft picks.

INDIANAPOLIS — Thanks to those who kept the latest NFC West chat moving. Transcript here. Highlights below:

Hayden (Logan, Utah): Let’s talk about the Niners QB situation. Alex Smith? Really? Think a draftee can come in and give us a Sanchez-esqu performance? Who?



Mike Sando: Why would the 49ers want their quarterback to finish the season with 12 touchdown passes and 20 interceptions, a la Mark Sanchez? Seriously, though, I think the 49ers are excited to have their quarterback play in the same offense in back-to-back seasons. For that reason, I don’t think the 49ers will shake up that position in 2010 unless they can land an obviously better option.



Matt (Tacoma, Wash.): Obviously there is a TON of mis-information coming out now, but what do you think of Spiller and Mays [to the Seahawks] in round one? Do teams care where a kid is from? I would think so, with Mays being from Seattle and seeing what the Mariners have gone through, being lambasted at every turn, for not drafting Tiny Tim Lincecum. We do need a safety.



Mike Sando: The scenario you laid out — C.J. Spiller and Taylor Mays to the Seahawks — doesn’t add up for me. Seattle needs to strengthen its lines on both sides of the ball. Quarterback is another need position. I’m just not sure whether the Seahawks could justify taking a situational running back/return specialist and a safety with its first-round choices, unless those players were easily the best ones on the board.



Jerry (Folsom, Calif.): Hey Mike, love the blog, love your email responses, love your attitude. I’ll be sad when you get promoted. Anyway, Rams. First pick Suh. Second round … my thought is the QB out of Central Michigan (Dan LeFevour?). Pretty good risk/reward potential in the 2nd round, small school means he didn’t have as much talent around him so his own talent is more visible. Other thoughts obviously include taking a flyer on a TE, one of the big WR’s (the USC kid maybe?) or just focusing on that D line. Any thoughts personally or any indications from the Rams? Thanks



Mike Sando: Thanks, Jerry. I grew up down there in the Sacramento area and still go out to Folsom Lake every now and then when I visit. I’m sure a lot of people are grateful to know that. On the football front, I think the Rams either need to draft a franchise quarterback early or use their early picks for players who will get on the field right away and preferably find the end zone. This is considered a strong draft for receivers. The Rams should be able to find one in the third round or thereabouts unless someone with great ability is available earlier. Tight end is a need position, but not a premium position. Drafting one anywhere in the first few rounds would probably be a luxury the Rams shouldn’t afford.



Lincoln (Missouri): Do you think the Cardinals truly believe that Leinart is their next starting quarterback to lead them to the playoffs or are they just buying time until they draft that next great quarterback?



Mike Sando: Matt Leinart represents their best option, so they’ll go with him and hope he develops. I don’t think Leinart has convinced anyone, including the Cardinals, that he is going to lead them to the playoffs. But that is OK. He’ll get a chance to prove it this season. And if he does not, the Cardinals can move on. I think they need to give him a chance over a full season.

Looks like I forgot to answer Matt’s question about whether a player’s hometown might affect his appeal for an NFL team. That is probably not a significant factor in most cases. It could be a plus or a bonus, but not part of the decision-making process unless, perhaps, a team had two elite quarterbacks ranked the same otherwise.

INDIANAPOLIS — Currently, offensive tackle Bryan Bulaga‘s stock is rising up the draft boards. But the University of Iowa junior believes it should be even higher.



Bulaga said Thursday that he feels he’s No. 1 at his position.



“I’d like to think that I’m the best tackle in the draft,” Bulaga said. “Obviously, this is a very deep class with a lot of great players. Everyone is going to be jumping each other and going under each other up until draft day. So it’s going to be exciting to see.



“Obviously, this weekend is going to decide a lot.”



Bulaga will participate in all of the workouts this week in Indianapolis. Right now, he is a projected top 15-20 pick and a possible target for the Pittsburgh Steelers at No. 18.



ESPN NFL draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. has Bulaga third behind offensive tackles Russell Okung of Oklahoma and Anthony Davis of Rutgers. Bulaga could have returned to school with hopes of being one of the top picks in 2011. But he feels going to the next level this year was the best decision.



“I think I was ready to come out from a maturity standpoint, and from a production standpoint I thought I was ready,” Bulaga explained. “I thought I was ready to help out an NFL team right now.”

You could see this one coming for months. But Tampa Bay coach Raheem Morris went on the record Thursday and said wide receiver Antonio Bryant won’t be back.

Bryant

Morris said the Bucs will not sign Bryant and he’ll be allowed to walk in free agency. Again, this is no surprise because Bryant had sealed his own fate – with a disappointing and injury-filled season and by being publicly critical of quarterback Josh Freeman and the coaching staff. Oh, it also didn’t score Bryant a lot of points when he blamed the flight back from London for causing some of his knee problems.



Sad thing is, Bryant could have wound up being a really positive story for the Buccaneers. He had plenty of problems early in his career, but had a big year for the Bucs in 2008. In one of their few wise moves of 2009, the Bucs put the franchise tag on Bryant, instead of locking him up with a long-term contract.



The hope was he’d go out and show he deserved a long-term deal. He didn’t.

INDIANAPOLIS — Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill is raking in the awards this offseason.



Earlier in the week, Sports Faith International made him one of four inductees to the Sports Faith Hall of Fame, joining Brian Piccolo, Gale Sayers, Dominoes Pizza founder and former Detroit Tigers owner Tom Monaghan and John Gagliardi, college football’s all-time leader in coaching victories.



Bidwill was named Thursday as winner of the Fritz Pollard Alliance’s Paul “Tank” Younger Award for promoting “diversity and equality of job opportunity in the coaching, front office and scouting staffs” of NFL teams.



Past winners include Dan Rooney, Rick Smith, Ozzie Newsome, James Harris, Bill Walsh, Tony Dungy, Frank Gilliam and Bobby Mitchell.



“When you look back over the years, going back to his time in St. Louis, Mr. Bidwill has a long history of hiring minorities to administrative and authoritative positions,” Fritz Pollard Alliance chairman John Wooten said in a news release. “He has really helped level the playing field and that is what this award is all about.”



The Fritz Pollard Alliance plans to present the award to Bidwill at the NFL combine Friday.

INDIANAPOLIS — Idaho guard Mike Iupati just finished making the media rounds at the NFL combine.



He definitely looks the part.



Combine officials measured him at 6-foot-5 and 331 pounds, according to Iupati. That is prototypical NFL size and Iupati wears it well. He does not appear fat. He’s very thick through the shoulders and neck.



One question on Iupati is whether he could move from left guard, his natural position, to right tackle — perhaps with the 49ers, who could use one.



I’m not sure how wise it would be for a team to draft Iupati based on his potential ability to play a position unnatural to him. Iupati did show good mobility at Idaho, but scouts differentiate short-area quickness from the kind needed to hold up consistently against edge pass-rushers.



Much of the Iupati-related analysis has concerned the 49ers. What if he remained available when the Cardinals picked at No. 26? Might he be a value pick in that range? That might be something to consider at least as a possibility.



Left guard Reggie Wells did not have his best season in 2009 and his contract expires after the 2010 season.



Iupati appears to have the size and strength to fit well in the schemes Arizona and San Francisco are running. He also listed the Rams and Seahawks as teams he has spoken with at the combine so far.

INDIANAPOLIS — Just had a nice visit with former Cowboys director of scouting Jeff Ireland, now the general manager for the Miami Dolphins. We discussed a number of topics, including Florida quarterback Tim Tebow and Baylor center J.D. Walton, who is projected to go in the second round of April’s draft.



But of more interest to our Cowboys audience, Ireland talked about a former undrafted wide receiver named Miles Austin. Obviously, the Cowboys had no clue that Austin would eventually become a Pro Bowl receiver when they signed him in ’06. But Ireland told me Thursday that Austin had the size and speed that suggested he might have a chance to make the leap from Monmouth to the NFL.



Former Titans wide receivers coach Ray Sherman (now with the Cowboys) and former Dallas scout Brian Gaine (now assistant director of player personnel for the Dolphins) were the only two people who showed up for Austin’s pro day at Monmouth. Bill Parcells loved the fact that Austin was from his old Bergen County neighborhood, but it’s not like anyone was standing on the table in the draft room on behalf of the wide receiver. I asked Ireland to tell me who should get the most credit for the Cowboys signing Austin.



“It’s always a process,” said Ireland, refusing to take the bait. “I was part of that process, but the area scout was also involved. In scouting, you bring things to the bridge and then the group helps you cross that bridge.”



Would the Dolphins be interested in signing Austin, a restricted free agent, to an offer sheet? Obviously, Ireland’s not going to answer that question, but I can almost assure you the answer’s no. There’s an unwritten rule between teams that have enjoyed close relationships. Bill Parcells and Ireland probably have too much respect for Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to make a play for Austin. And even if that relationship didn’t exist, it’s hard to imagine the Dolphins being willing to give up a first- and third-round pick for a player who’s had one huge season.



Ireland has a hard and fast rule in scouting: “Stay away from projection players.” In other words, he’s not going to start throwing third-round picks at players from Monmouth who have great size just because Austin’s career has taken off. Do you think West Virginia quarterback Pat White was a projection player?



I think the Dolphins projected him as a Wildcat quarterback, but some people would question where they took him in the draft. Back with some Tebow talk in a bit.