In the three hiring cycles since Jim Fassel was fired by the Giants, there have been 19 head coaching changes, including the Bills and Raiders twice. Fassel is batting .000 getting a second chance in the NFL. He was 0-for-10 this year. "My thought process is this, and I mean this sincerely: I love coaching, I'm still coaching and I'm doing what I love to do and I get paid well to do it," he said. "I don't feel sorry for myself." Fassel, who will return for his second season as the Ravens' offensive coordinator, interviewed with the Chiefs and Rams this year and the Redskins, Cardinals and Bills in 2004. He was considered the fallback candidate in Kansas City if the Herm Edwards deal fell through and might have gotten the Redskins' job two years ago if Gibbs didn't come out of retirement.

The start of free agency could be pushed back from March 3 to April 1 if there is sufficient progress in labor negotiations to warrant such a delay, according to sources around the league. The problem is, there has been no progress in labor talks. NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and NFL Players Association Executive Director Gene Upshaw decided against spending last week in Hawaii for the Pro Bowl and instead returned to the East Coast after the Super Bowl in Detroit to resume deliberations on a possible extension of the collective bargaining agreement. The current labor deal keeps the sport's salary cap system in place through the 2006 season, then there would be a season without a salary cap in 2007 before the agreement expires. The uncertain outlook on the labor front has executives from teams around the league fretting as they attempt to get their salary cap situations in order and prepare for the opening of the free agent market. They think that delaying the start of free agency would make sense if it would mean there possibly could be a new labor deal in place so that teams would know exactly what they're dealing with by the time they begin signing players. Opening free agency with only one season remaining on the labor agreement would create a number of salary cap problems for teams, including the fact that they could prorate the signing bonuses in long-term players' contracts over only four seasons for salary cap accounting purposes instead of the maximum seven. One participant in the labor negotiations said Tuesday, though, that there's no need at this point to contemplate pushing back free agency because there's no sign yet that a few extra weeks would produce a deal.

The New York Giants have signed offensive lineman Rich Seubert to a two-year contract extension, a move that provides the team about $400,000 in additional salary cap room for 2006. By signing Seubert, the Giants secured for the long-term a player who could work his way back into the starting lineup after overcoming a potentially career-threatening injury. For the second consecutive year, Seubert accepted a salary reduction, but could gain more security in a deal that ties him to the Giants through the 2009 season. The two extension years added to his contract are at base salaries of $1.05 million for 2008 and $1.3 million for '09. His base salaries for the next two seasons, in the reworked portion of his existing contract, are $545,0000 for '06 and $790,000 for '07.

Troy Aikman, Reggie White and Harry Carson were selected to enter the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio on Saturday. John Madden, Warren Moon and Rayfield Wright.