B-Dawk weighing retirement

INDIANAPOLIS - Brian Dawkins said yesterday that he hasn't yet made a decision on whether he wants to play a 17th NFL season.

The 38-year-old, nine-time Pro Bowl safety, who has played the last three seasons in Denver after leaving the Eagles as a free agent in 2009, missed four of the Broncos' last five games, including both of their playoff games, with a neck injury. He will be a free agent in March.

"The season's not even over yet; the Super Bowl hasn't been played," Dawkins said. "I'll give it some prayer and we'll take it from there."

Dawkins was in town for the NFL Players Association's annual Super Bowl week news conference. He is a longtime member of the union's executive board.

Last summer, Dawkins agreed to restructure the contract he signed with the Broncos in 2009. His 2011 salary was reduced from $6 million to $2 million.

If Dawkins decides to retire, which is a good bet at this point given his age and the neck injury, there's a good chance the future Hall of Famer would sign a 1-day contract with the Eagles so that he could officially retire with the club that selected him in the second round of the 1996 draft.

"We'll see," he said. "I don't even want to think too deeply about that right now. If it happens, just let it be a surprise to everybody and it'll be a surprise for myself and we'll go from there."

HGH stalemate

As part of last August's collective bargaining agreement, the league and the players union agreed to human growth hormone testing. But it's been on hold while the two sides bicker over the fairness of the testing. While they continue to talk, they aren't close to resolving their differences. And there's a very good chance HGH testing still will not be in place when training camps get under way in July.

"As we have said before, we are going to continue to fight and ensure that due process is something that is not thrown away at the expense of just having a test," NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said. "With all due respect to the folks at WADA [World Anti-Doping Agency] that have told us that the standard against which our players will be measured is really none of our business and shouldn't concern us, how could it not be our business?

"It seems to me and the players if we are able to get to a system that is fully transparent, that is the best answer to the solution. If we are unable to get to a system that is fully transparent, and nonetheless we can come up with ways in order to ensure a fair test that protects the due-process rights, that's what we will do. But no one will bully us into a test. No one will force the players to accept something that's unfair. How could we?"

Union consistent

The revenue-hungry NFL owners have said they would like to revisit the issue of expanding the regular season to 18 games and reducing the preseason to two games. The union rejected the proposal during last summer's contract negotiations, though it did agree to talk about the possibility down the road. But Smith didn't sound as if the players are any more inclined to give a thumbs up to an 18-game season today than they were last summer.

"Like anything else, the lesson from the lockout and the labor fight was that it is important to consider everything," he said. "There are issues that we obviously feel are tremendously important. The health and safety of our players is something we said early on is a non-negotiable issue. And that will remain so."

Gronk update

Injured Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski returned to practice yesterday, but only on a limited basis. It was the first time he has been on the field since suffering a high ankle sprain in the AFC Championship Game. Gronkowski probably will play Sunday. The big question will be his level of effectiveness. "My goal is to be out there and do everything I can," he said before practice. "I want to put myself in the best situation, so when it comes to Sunday, I will be in the best situation to play."