PRO FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : AROUND THE NFL : Dungy Calls New Job Report ‘Premature’

Tony Dungy labeled as “premature” a report that he has been hired as coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“We’re headed in that direction, but don’t have anything finalized yet,” Dungy told a Chicago-based radio network.

The Tampa Tribune reported Saturday that Dungy, the Minnesota Vikings’ defensive coordinator, has been offered the job. The newspaper quoted unidentified NFL sources as saying Dungy’s representatives were trying to work out final contract details.

“That’s a little premature,” Dungy said. “But I do want the job.”

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New Orleans Saints’ owner Tom Benson said he will not let Coach Jim Mora speak with any other owner about a coaching job next season.

There has been speculation that Mora might be considered a candidate for coaching positions in Arizona and Tampa Bay.

“First off, nobody has contacted me about wanting to talk to Jim,” Benson said Friday. “If that would have happened two weeks ago, I would have given him permission. But now after we’ve made a commitment to him and he’s made a commitment to us, if a team tried to talk to Jim, I would consider that to be tampering.”

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The NFL is weighing a plan to resolve the problem posed by the move of the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore, the Washington Post reported.

It said the plan would call for Cleveland owner Art Modell to retain ownership but give up operation of his team to the NFL, which would keep it in Cleveland until a new stadium was built in Baltimore. The league then would give Modell an expansion team there, the Post reported.

The paper quoted the chairman of the Baltimore stadium authority as calling the plan “absurd.” Modell was not available for comment.