The Sports Xchange

Ending a stellar 12-year career, Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu is retiring from the NFL.

The 33-year-old veteran told the Uniontown (Pa.) Herald-Standard that he called Steelers chairman Dan Rooney and said he is stepping away. The team informed Polamalu after last season that it would not offer him another contract.

Polamalu, the Steelers’ first-round draft pick out of Southern California in 2003, wound up making eight Pro Bowls and five All-Pro teams. He won Super Bowls with Pittsburgh after the 2005 and 2008 seasons, and he was selected the AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2010.

In 158 career games (all starts after his rookie season), Polamalu recorded 770 tackles, 100 passes defensed, 32 interceptions, 14 forced fumbles and 12 sacks. He returned three interceptions for touchdowns.

Meanwhile, the Steelers re-signed veteran safety Will Allen.

Allen, 32, started four games in place of Polamalu last season and finished with 22 tackles and a forced fumble in 16 games.

A fourth-round draft pick by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2004, Allen has recorded 329 tackles and six interceptions 12 seasons with Tampa Bay (2004-09), Pittsburgh (2010-14) and the Dallas Cowboys (2013).

—The New Orleans Saints have signed linebacker Anthony Spencer to a one-year contract.

Spencer, 31, spent his first eight seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, who drafted him in the first round in 2007. He recorded 33 sacks, 497 tackles and 12 forced fumbles in 104 games (67 starts).

Spencer’s best season came in 2012, when he tallied 11 sacks and 106 tackles. But he suffered a knee injury in the 2013 season opener and underwent microfracture surgery.

He returned to Dallas on a one-year contract last year and played 13 in games, with 25 tackles and just half a sack. In the Cowboys’ two playoff games, he had a sack and a forced fumble.

—San Francisco 49ers linebacker NaVorro Bowman, who missed the 2014 season while recovering from a serious knee injury, is expected to return to the field this month.

New coach Jim Tomsula said Friday that Bowman should be available when the team conducts a pre-draft minicamp later in the month.

“When we can get on the field, Bow is going out on the field,” Tomsula said. “I haven’t gotten into the specifics on how much. Obviously we’re not going to throw somebody out there and go 100 reps. My understanding is, yes, he’s moving great.”

Bowman suffered torn ligaments during the 49ers’ loss to the Seattle Seahawks in the 2013 NFC Championship Game. He started last season on the physically-unable-to-perform list and was placed on injured reserve Dec. 13.

—San Francisco tight end Vernon Davis likes the new look quarterback Colin Kaepernick is showing this offseason.

Kaepernick spent the past two months working on his mechanics in Phoenix with the likes of quarterback coach Dennis Gile and two-time league MVP Kurt Warner.

“I didn’t even know that was Colin,” Davis said to reporters Friday at Levi’s Stadium as the 49ers began their offseason program. “No, seriously. He was working on his dropback and I was just, ‘Who is that?’

“You guys are in for a treat. He looks like a totally different guy. I think it was really genuine and I think he’s just a class guy. It shows that he’s humble, for him to go to someone and work on his craft and get better. And it shows that his approach to this game, he’s just relentless. He just wants to be great and I respect that. And that’s another reason why I’m in this building today.”

Kaepernick said, “I just want to make sure I’m doing everything I can to make sure I’m getting better and doing my part to help this team win. You have to be able to change and adapt to be the best player you can be.”

—The Miami Dolphins are close to finalizing a multi-year contract extension for center Mike Pouncey, the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel reported.

According to the newspaper, terms were not disclosed by sources, but the deal is believed to be in the neighborhood of the $40 million multi-year contract his twin brother Maurkice Pouncey got from the Pittsburgh Steelers last year.

Pouncey, who was Miami’s 2011 first-round pick, has been a Pro Bowl selection twice in his first four seasons.

Last summer, the Dolphins opted into Pouncey’s fifth-year option, which guaranteed him a little over $7 million this season. According to the Sun Sentinel, the multi-year extension would guarantee Pouncey more than $13 million this season.

—Robert Griffin III, who enters the offseason as the starting quarterback for the Washington Redskins, is going to work out with some of his receivers in Florida next week.

According to the Washington Post, Griffin and a number of his skill-position teammates will gather for four days of group workouts.

The team’s offseason voluntary workouts begin on April 20 and feature only strength and conditioning drills. Mandatory minicamp is scheduled June 16-18.

Griffin and some of his wide receivers, tight ends and running backs trained in Phoenix for a week last year in advance of the team’s program. The previous year in 2013, Griffin spent the offseason rehabbing from reconstructive knee surgery. As a rookie in 2012, RG3 hosted a group of receivers for workouts in Texas.

—New York Giants linebacker Victor Butler reportedly has been suspended by the NFL for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs.

Butler will miss the first four games of next season, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported Friday.

The suspension weakens Butler’s chances of making the roster, as he already was competing against free-agent additions Jonathan Casillas and J.T. Thomas.