Jets will spend more on Tim Tebow than the Patriots will (Getty Images)

New England Patriots signed quarterback Tim Tebow to a two-year contract last week worth $1.385 million that included zero guaranteed money. As noted by Rich Cimini of ESPNNewYork.com, the New York Jets, Tebow's former team, will spend more in cash and salary cap dollars for the former backup quarterback/personal punt protector than the Patriots will spend over the next two seasons combined.

Here's the breakdown:

When the Jets acquired Tebow from the Denver Broncos on March 23, 2012, they agreed to repay the Broncos for a portion of a $6,277,500 salary advance that Tebow had received from Denver in 2011, an amount totaling $2,531,875. The Jets paid $1 million in 2012 and will pay $1,531,875 back over the course of the 17-week 2013 regular season after failing to trade the quarterback's contract to another club this offseason.

When they released Tebow on April 30, the Jets basically ate the $1,531,875 this season.

There are no guarantees that Tebow makes and stays on the Patriots' 53-man roster this season, but if he does, he will earn the league minimum base salary of $630,000. When you add in the $525 in workout bonuses Tebow earned from the Patriots for participating in last week's three-day minicamp, the Jets will be spending at least $901,350 more in cash and cap space on Tebow this season than the Patriots will spend on the former Heisman Trophy winner. Tebow currently has a $755,000 cap charge in 2014

Donald Driver would come out of retirement for the Packers (USA Today Sports Images)

After 14 seasons with the Green Bay Packers, wide receiver Donald Driver announced his retirement on Feb. 6. A little over four months later, Driver says that a few NFL teams have reached out, but only the Packers could coax him out of retirement, reports Paul Imig of FOX Sports Wisconsin.

"I think the thing is, if you have the itch to continue to play, then it doesn't matter who you play for, because that's what you want to do,” Driver said. "You just want to play the game. I love the game, but I only love one team. When you love the game, you'll play for anybody. Anybody who offers you something, you're willing to step on the field and play for them.

"I decided that I love one team. But I do love the game. At the end of the day, if I get that itch, it would only be for the green and gold."

Driver, 38, was scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent this offseason and is eligible to sign with any team that is interested in adding a veteran receiver to their roster. Seeing Driver in another uniform would certainly be strange, but it certainly wouldn't be any stranger than Brett Favre in Minnesota Vikings and New York Jets jerseys and Driver would hardly be the first player to finish his career in a different uniform. Franco Harris finished his carer with the Seattle Seahawks, while Joe Namath spent a season with the Los Angeles Rams and Johnny Unitas ended his career with the San Diego Chargers. A closer example for Driver could be Cris Carter, who is largely identified with the Minnesota Vikings, but had transitioned to a media role in 2002 before returning to the field to play in eight games for the Miami Dolphins.

Playing for one team for an entire career means something to Driver, though.

"I talked to so many different guys and every guy that I've talked to said they wish they never went to another team," Driver said. "They always wished they would've retired with that team that they played 10, 11, 12 years for.

"When I asked them, 'Should I go back?,' they say, 'If you don't have that love for another team, don't go back. You're not going to get the same love, you're not going to get the same respect that you got from them that you got from Green Bay.'"

Victor Cruz will sign his RFA tender on Friday. (USA Today Sports Images)

New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz will sign his restricted free-agent tender on Friday, ESPN's Josina Anderson reports.

Cruz was tendered at the "first round" level, which carries a non-guaranteed base salary of $2.879 million for the 2013 season. Cruz skipped the Giants' voluntary offseason program and this week's mandatory minicamp, but since he had not signed a contract, he was not subject to fines by the team.

Had Cruz not signed the tender by June 17, the Giants would have had the option to replace the $2.879 million tender with a "reduced" tender, which would have been worth $630,000, the minimum base salary for a player with three accrued seasons. For a player like Cruz, who has pocketed $1.479 million in on-field earnings via base salaries, workout bonuses, performance-based pay bonus, the $2.249 million reduction would have been a steep price to pay for not signing the original offer.

The Giants planned to reduce the tender if Cruz did not sign it by June 17, according to Aditi Kinkhabwala of the NFL Network.

Cruz, who hired Tom Condon of CAA Football (Eli Manning's agent) in the offseason, is still angling for a new long-term contract and signing the tender is no guarantee that he'll report on time for training camp.

Ryan Mathews received some nasty tweets (USA Today Sports Images)

Running back Ryan Mathews hasn't always produced at the level the San Diego Chargers expected when they traded up to select him with the No. 12 overall pick in the 2010 NFL draft. Mathews has struggled with consistency, injuries, fumbles, and has admittedly fallen short of what expected from the player chosen to replace a legend like LaDainian Tomlinson.

Unfortunately, Mathews' struggles have occurred in the Twitter era, and he's been the subject of the most vile criticisms on social media, which he shared with Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

"I’ve had people say they hope me and my mom get AIDS and die," Mathews said on Wednesday.

Seriously people, get a grip.

"I put a lot of pressure on myself to fill LT’s shoes," Mathews said. "I was trying to live up to those expectations — what he was doing in his prime, all the yards he’s getting, all the touchdowns he’s getting, just trying to live up to that.

"I knew I was the first-round pick, (the Chargers) moved up (16) spots and all that, and I was just trying to do more than what I should have been doing. I think I took all the fun out of it and stressed myself out over it."

Cortland Finnegan ripped a former teammate (USA Today Sports Images)

St. Louis Rams cornerback Cortland Finnegan has certainly been one of the more feisty players in the NFL in recent years.

When he was with the Tennessee Titans during the 2010 season, Finnegan slugged it out with Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson that earned both players an ejection and $25,000 fines. Late in the fourth quarter of a game last September, Finnegan goaded Washington Redskins wide receiver Josh Morgan to throw the football at him after the whistle, resulting in a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Morgan that took the Redskins out of field-goal range and ultimately cost the Redskins the game.

Finnegan's latest target is safety Craig Dahl, who left the Rams this offseason and signed a three-year, $5.25 million contract with the San Francisco 49ers. The Rams went 7-8-1 last season, but played the eventual NFC champion 49ers tough. The two teams played to a 24-24 tie on Nov. 11 before the Rams upset the 49ers 16-13 in overtime on Dec. 2.

On Wednesday, Dahl told reporters in San Francisco that upon signing with the 49ers, he immediately told the coaching staff that the Rams were successful against them last season because they were able to diagnose run or pass based on the personnel and formation.

"We had a few tips off of film that we were able to differentiate between run and pass early," Dahl said, via Matt Maiocco of CSN Bay Area. "So that kind of gave us an added benefit on defense.

"It was a few different things. Some different personnel and alignment stuff really were the big keys, as far as our giveaways."

Of course, this sort of information gathering is nothing new and happens all the time in the NFL. Offensive coaches will pick the brains of defensive players coming in from other teams (and vice versa) on a variety of things, including tendencies that the coach's own self-scouting might have overlooked.

However, Dahl "spilling the beans" to the 49ers was not something that Finnegan could let slide.

Darnell Dockett has a fierce new face mask (AZCardinals.com)

Arizona Cardinals defensive tackle Darnell Dockett unveiled a new facemask at the team's FanFest at University of Phoenix Stadium on Tuesday night. As the photograph above shows, it will be very difficult for opposing offensive lineman to grab hold of Dockett's mask if he wears that this season.

The mask, which was the handiwork of Bad-Ass Masks, features six horizontal bars and one vertical in the middle that divides a whopping 18 diagonal bars, nine on each side of the vertical bar. According to the Facebook page for Bad-Ass Masks, this model is named the "Freight Train".

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Dockett's mask bears resemblance to the Schutt-designed mask worn by New York Giants defensive end Justin Tuck, who began wearing a mask with 12 diagonal bars and five horizontal bars last summer. Tuck began wearing that mask to prevent offensive linemen from grabbing his mask and aggravating a neck strain, though that the mask looked cool certainly expedited the change.

Andre Smith will be fined for missing mini-camp (Getty Images)

On April 26, offensive tackle Andre Smith signed a three-year, $18 million contract to remain with the Cincinnati Bengals, ending his six-week stint as an unrestricted free agent. But since signing that contract, Smith has skipped the voluntary OTAs and will be a no-show for this week's mandatory minicamp.

Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis does not sound pleased and intends to fine Smith for missing the mandatory practices.

“I think we all have to make choices once in a while in life that we pay a cost for," Lewis said, according to Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer. "In this case I have to do it that way. I have to be fair, I mean, we are not necessarily dealing with a death in the family or something like that or your wife is having a baby or so forth. In this case, this is something there has to be ramifications from this."

The guaranteed portion of Smith's contract has already been paid out. Smith received a $3 million signing bonus at the time of the contract's signing and banked a $2 million roster bonus on May 2. Smith is due a $1.9 million base salary and can earn up to $1 million in "per game active" roster bonuses this season. A $100,000 workout bonus was also available, but since Smith did not participate in the workout program, he will not receive that bonus.

Smith will be fined the maximum amount — $66,150 — for missing the three-day mini-camp, bringing his total financial losses to just over $170,000 when you factor in the $175 per day that the collective bargaining agreement requires teams to pay players for participating in the offseason workout program.

Lewis added that Smith's absence is not tied to a January arrest for possessing a handgun in an Atlanta airport or a family issue, which might normally result in an excused absence. By fining Smith, it's clear that Lewis feels the cause of the absence is something the No. 6 overall pick of the 2009 draft could have avoided.

The Ravens cut fullback Vonta Leach on Tuesday (USA Today Sports Images)

The purge of veterans from the Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl champion roster continued on Tuesday as the team announced that they had terminated the contract of All-Pro fullback Vonta Leach.

Leach joined the Ravens in 2011, signing a three-year deal worth $11 million. In 32 games for the Ravens, Leach played in 1,026 of a possible 2,171 offensive snaps for a playing time percent of 47.3, and his skills as a blocker earned him Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro honors after each season. Leach was a Pro Bowler and first-team All-Pro in 2010, his final season with the Houston Texans.

Leach turns 32 in November and was scheduled to earn $3 million in base salary that would have become fully guaranteed had he been on the roster in Week 1. The Ravens signaled that they were leaning toward going younger (and therefore less expensive) at the position when they used a fourth-round pick in the 2013 draft on Harvard fullback Kyle Juszczyk, who is scheduled to earn $705,584 in 2013, of which only $300,584 is guaranteed.

Leach saw the writing on the wall, declined a pay cut and on Monday night announced on Twitter that he was being let go.

"Thank @ravens organization for a great two years. I came here and did what we set out to do and that's win the Super Bowl," wrote Leach. "My time here is up but what we accomplished, we will be forever linked. Thank the fans for accepting me and my family to Bmore. #newchapter#samegoal."

By releasing Leach, the Ravens will save $3 million in cash and cap space, though some of that has been used to sign blocking tight end Billy Bajema.

With teams moving toward tight ends and away from pure fullbacks, it is doubtful that the 6-foot, 250-pound Leach will find someone willing to pay him anything close to the $3 million in base salary he was scheduled to earn from the Ravens in the final season of his most recent contract. Leach could get a deal that could allow him to recoup some of the earnings via incentives, but in all likelihood, he will sign a "minimum salary benefit" contract, where Leach will earn the league minimum ($840,000) base salary with a cap number of between $555,000 and $620,000, depending on whether or not he receives a signing or roster bonus.

That deal could come from the Ravens, who have not closed the door on bringing Leach back.