Rams RB Jackson Gets Six-Year Deal and 44 Million

Rams RB Steven Jackson signed a six-year, $44 million contract, ended a 27-day holdout, and was on the field for practice with the St. Louis Rams on Thursday.

This is a big relief to fantasy football folks with early draft picks in their league drafts!

Coach Scott Linehan, who conducted a month of practices without the centerpiece of the offense, joked that he gave Jackson "a big hug" and then asked for a loan.

The 235-pound running back had been entering the final season of a five-year, $7 million deal he signed as a first-round pick in 2004. Linehan said he understood the business end of the game after Jackson got a deal that includes more than $20 million in bonuses and puts him third on the salary scale on the team, trailing only quarterback Marc Bulger and Pace and fifth among NFL running backs.

Jackson, 25, said both sides compromised during negotiations that stayed underground and generally cordial. Gregarious by nature, he kept silent publicly while getting frequent text-message updates from teammates and Linehan, and then flew from his home in Las Vegas to St. Louis on Wednesday when the deal was imminent

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Fantasy Football News: Favre a New York Jet!

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP)—The Green Bay Packers have reached an agreement to trade quarterback Brett Favre to the New York Jets, the team announced late Wednesday night. Terms of the trade weren’t immediately available.

The Packers had been talking with the Jets and Tampa Bay Buccaneers since deciding earlier this week that the team and the three-time MVP couldn’t co-exist. The Packers decided to move forward with Aaron Rodgers as their starter after Favre announced his retirement in March.

Favre’s agent, James “Bus” Cook, confirmed the deal in a text message to The Associated Press late Wednesday night.

The agreement first was reported by Fox Sports on its Web site