Upshaw dares owners

A defiant Gene Upshaw said that if the NFL’s owners opt out of the current labor agreement later this year, the players’ union is ready for a strike or the decertification tactics it used to get free agency after the 1987 walkout.

“If they want to get out of the deal, there’s nothing we can do about it,” the executive director of the NFL Players Association said Thursday before the union’s annual Super Bowl news conference in Phoenix. “But we’ll be prepared.”

The labor agreement reached after tough bargaining in March 2006 gave both sides the right to opt out in November. That would lead to 2010 being an uncapped year before the contract expires in 2011.

Several owners, including Denver’s Pat Bowlen, have suggested that the current agreement is leaving some teams cash-strapped and making it likely that the owners will opt out next year.

Upshaw also said players will consent to a urine – but not blood – test for Human Growth Hormone once such a test is developed.

Jones’ charges dropped

Suspended for the 2007 season, Adam “Pacman” Jones’ status will be reveiwed by the NFL after the Pro Bowl. Commissioner Roger Goodell has said actions, not words, speak loudest.

A Tennessee judge dismissed two misdemeanor charges Thursday from an incident Aug. 25, 2006, leaving only one criminal charge still pending against Jones in Georgia. But he didn’t help himself by being in an Atlanta strip club Jan. 3 while the Titans were prepping for a playoff game.

Mariucci joins list

It’s time to move Steve Mariucci from “maybe” to “definite” on the list of Washington Redskins coaching candidates.

The former San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions coach will interview with owner Dan Snyder about the Redskins vacancy, a source to the Associated Press.