Adam Vinatieri will still be the NFL’s oldest active player next season.

The 46-year-old kicker and the Indianapolis Colts have agreed to a new deal Brian Burns Jersey , general manager Chris Ballard announced Friday on 1070 The Fan, the radio station that broadcasts the team’s games. Terms of the deal were not immediately available.But it was hardly a surprise. The day after Indy’s season ended with a divisional-round loss to Kansas City, Vinatieri said he would “probably” be back for his 24th season in the league. And if all goes as planned, the NFL’s career scoring leader might still be adding to his record total of 2,600 a while longer.“There are no guarantees for any of us that there’s a next day, a next year, anything. I’ve kind of always prepared myself thinking that way,” Vinatieri said last month after noting he’d like to play 10 more seasons. “There are no guarantees, and when you get to my age, you’re absolutely right, your days are numbered.”The four-time Super Bowl champion has showed no signs of slowing down.He made 23 of 27 field goal attempts last season and finished with 113 points — extending his league record to 21 100-point seasons.But that’s just part of Vinatieri’s resume.In September, he broke Morten Andersen’s league record for field goals made and needs 10 more to become the first player with 700 field goals. In October, he broke Andersen’s NFL scoring record. In December, he became the fourth player in league history to participate in a game at age 46.His 32 career playoff games are second all-time, behind former teammate Tom Brady http://www.panthersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-greg-little-jersey , and he’s the only player to score 1,000 points with two different franchises — Indy and New England.Yet somehow Vinatieri and his white beard seem like a perfect fit in this young locker room.“He seems like he’s the same age he was when I first came in here and I guess that’s been eight years,” left tackle Anthony Castonzo said earlier this month. “That’s pretty impressive, eight years, going through your early 40s that you don’t really seem any older. I’m always impressed with how he’s able to hang out with the young guys and be one of the guys despite being old enough to be one of our dads.”Andrew Luck added: “Vinny is the best. I love him.”And there are more milestones ahead for Vinatieri if he stays healthy.His next game played will be No. 354, breaking a tie with Gary Anderson for second on the career list, and if he’s still kicking after he turns 47 in late December, Vinatieri would join Andersen and George Blanda as the only 47-year-olds to play in a game.But Ballard saw another reason to bring back the league’s oldest player for another season.“Do I think he can still kick in this league and be a really good kicker? Absolutely I do,” Ballard said Jan. 14 in his season-ending news conference. “He is as important a guy in that locker room as anyone. I don’t know if I have been around a special teams player that has as much impact as Adam does in the locker room. From a positive standpoint, all of our young guys that come in get to see Adam Vinatieri work, rehab, prepare his body every year, be a pro, handle the hard times, handle the good times. I mean all of that Will Grier Jersey , what Adam brings, brings a lot of value to this team.” Some have suggested (actually, insisted) that the exclusive authority given to the Commissioner in Rule 17 to rectify extraordinarily unfair results does not encompass judgment errors made by game officials. Those taking that position have relied on Rule 17, Section 2, Article 2.But while a quick and simple reading of Rule 17, Section 2, Article 2 can lead to that conclusion, a more careful parsing of the provision reveals what it does, and doesn’t, say.Title “NO CLUB PROTESTS” (an important clue), Article 2 states as follows: “The authority and measures provided for in this entire Section 2 do not constitute a protest machinery for NFL clubs to avail themselves of in the event a dispute arises over the result of a game. The investigation called for in this Section 2 will be conducted solely on the Commissioner’s initiative to review an act or occurrence that the Commissioner deems so extraordinary or unfair that the result of the game in question would be inequitable to one of the participating teams. The Commissioner will not apply authority in cases of complaints by clubs concerning judgmental errors or routine errors of omission by game officials. Games involving such complaints will continue to stand as completed.”Article 2 doesn’t prevent the Commissioner from deciding on his own to take action in response to “judgmental errors or routine errors of omission by game officials.” Instead, Article 2 expressly (and only) prevents teams from making official protests or complaints based on Rule 17, Section 2.The purpose of this specific rule seems obvious. If Rule 17, Section 2 were a path for making protests, the Commissioner would be constantly investigating and deciding whether a protest made by a team is valid. Article 2 makes it clear that teams should not http://www.panthersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-christian-miller-jersey , and cannot, rely on Rule 17, Section 2 as a device for initiating challenges to the outcome of games, especially when a team disagrees with the manner in which judgment is exercised.If the NFL wanted to slam the door on the ability of the Commissioner to remedy an extraordinarily unfair result based on “judgmental errors or routine errors of omission by game officials,” the NFL should have (could have) written the rule to expressly state that the Commissioner’s authority cannot be exercised in the event of “judgmental errors or routine errors of omission by game officials.” Article 2 isn’t that broad; instead, it refers specifically to club complaints based on such matters.While it’s possible that the sentence in question was poorly written, sloppiness isn’t relevant if/when the time ever comes to discern the precise meaning of the language used. As constructed, the language speaks only in terms of complaints made by teams, preserving at all times the power of the Commissioner to decide on his own to take action when he believes that an outcome creates an extraordinarily unfair result, independent and irrespective of any complaints that the team affected by the extraordinary unfair outcome would potentially try to make.That’s the interpretation that ultimately gives the Commissioner the power to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. Why would anyone think that he would interpret and apply that rule in any other way.