Ravens owner warns of potential problems in NFL

Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti said Wednesday that several NFL owners are facing a financial shortfall that could create "long-term problems for the league" and ultimately result in a lockout.

As the Ravens prepare for a 2010 season without a salary cap, Bisciotti hinted the NFL could shut down in March 2011 if concessions aren't made by the players union in negotiations for a new collective-bargaining agreement.

Speaking at a news conference in which team officials looked back at last season and ahead to 2010, Bisciotti insisted many of the 32 NFL teams are struggling to finish in the black.

"I've got partners out there right now whose teams are making less money than their linebackers," Bisciotti said.

"We always knew this was not a big cash-flow business, but when you've got guys like Jacksonville tarping up 10,000 seats to stop blackouts, when you've got teams that are voluntarily staying at the minimum of what they have to spend on the salary cap in order to not go upside down financially, then we already have a structural problem."

Three years ago the owners and players union signed a CBA that Bisciotti labeled "a bad deal" for the owners.

"That puts us in the unenviable position of this thing ending in a lockout as opposed to a strike," he said. "There's no cash flow.

"If we don't get this thing back to the point that teams have enough cash flow - then there's long-term problem for the league. We're going to have to address that."

Jauron soars to Eagles: Dick Jauron is back in the NFL.

The former Buffalo Bills head coach was hired by the Philadelphia Eagles as a senior assistant/defensive backs coach.

"Long before he became a defensive coordinator and head coach in this league, Dick Jauron was considered to be one of, if not the best defensive backs coaches in the game," said Eagles head coach Andy Reid said.

Jauron replaces Brian Stewart, who left after one season to become defensive coordinator at the University of Houston. Jauron was fired by the Bills in November after a 3-6 start. He was 24-33 in Buffalo in three-plus seasons.

Jauron was 35-46 as the Bears' coach from 1999 to 2003, and 1-4 as Detroit's interim coach in 2005. Jauron previously worked with Reid in Green Bay on Mike Holmgren's staff in the early 1990s.

"I was flattered when Andy called, and I just couldn't resist taking it," Jauron said.

New officiating chief: Carl Johnson will replace the retiring Mike Pereira in April as NFL vice president of officiating.

The 48-year-old Johnson has worked eight postseason games in his nine-year NFL career as a line judge.

Johnson officiated in the 2008 Super Bowl between the Giants and the Patriots, four divisional playoff games, two wild-card games and one Pro Bowl. He's a native of Thibodaux, La.

"Carl Johnson is highly respected both by his on-field and off-field officiating colleagues for his stellar body of work and his integrity," said Ray Anderson, NFL executive vice president of football operations.

"His teamwork-first philosophy and his excellent communication skills will provide terrific leadership to our officiating department."

Results in on Adams: According to The Greenville News, toxicology tests on Bears defensive end Gaines Adams found that no additional factors contributed to the death of the Bears defensive end.

Adams, 26, died Jan. 17 of cardiac arrest due to an enlarged heart.