NFL - NEWS & NOTES

I watch a lot of ND football, so I don't doubt he bear hugged him. haha.

 

Oh when I say tackle I mean tackle to the ground.

 

They bring this up every year, and then it goes away quietly....I don't expect this year to be any different.

 

In business news, Yum Brands announced that Pizza Hut is the new "official pizza sponsor" of the NFL. Papa John's will continue its sponsorship relations with 22 teams individually but ended its sponsorship deal with the league as a whole.

 

Jets cut Muhammad Wilkerson 2 years after mega-deal

Hit the road, Mo.

The New York Jets informed defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson of his release on Wednesday, the team announced.

In 2016, Wilkerson signed a five-year, $86 million extension with the Jets. Two disappointing seasons and $36.8 million later, he's back on the market. Wilkerson was projected to earn around $20 million in 2018, but will now count just $6 million against the salary cap. The Jets free up $11 million in salary-cap space by cutting the 28-year-old pass rusher.

"Mo was a business decision, " Bowles said of the release Wednesday. "It wasn't disciplinary at all. It was a business decision that we made that was good for both parties, and we made that decision.

"I'm disappointed for the team. I'm disappointed for him. Obviously it didn't work out, but I have a lot of love for Mo. I still think he's got some football ahead of him and he's got some good football ahead of him. I just wish him the best."

So ends the tiresome saga of Wilkerson's stay in New York. Once a transcendent first-round selection and a Jersey-bred fan favorite, Wilkerson racked up 44.5 sacks in his time with Gang Green, including 28.5 from 2013 through 2015. The anchor of the Sons of Anarchy defensive line (Wilkerson, Damon Harrison, Sheldon Richardson), Wilkerson was a versatile pass rusher, able to play as a tackle or an end. (NFL.com)

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nf...-lander/ar-BBJIZmd?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

Robert Kraft and 38 yr old girlfriend have a baby.

Wow - he's still producing at his age. God bless him !

 

They made a mistake, it was just him taking a dump.

 

Make no mistake, this is the NFL looking to have a forward thinking response to the XFL.

 

Los Angeles Rams will trade or release Tavon Austin

Tavon Austin will be in the market for a new team after five years with the Rams organization.

The Rams will either trade or release the former No. 8 overall draft pick, NFL Network's Mike Garafolo reported, via a source informed of the situation.

Coming out of West Virginia in 2013, Austin was billed as a prolific playmaker, worthy of sacrificing four draft picks in a trade with the Bills. Although he parlayed a breakout 2015 campaign (10 touchdowns and nearly 1,000 yards from scrimmage) into a prodigious four-year, $42 million deal in the summer of 2016, Austin never lived up to the contract -- much less the predraft hype.

After a disappointing 2016 season under Jeff Fisher, Austin fell out of the receiver rotation once new coach Sean McVay imported former Buffalo wideouts Sammy Watkins and Robert Woods last year. Austin caught just 13 passes for 47 yards for a minuscule 3.6 yards per reception in 2017.

Austin's contract calls for a $5 million roster bonus this month, a prohibitive price tag for a gadget player and part-time punt returner.

If a creative offensive mind of McVay's caliber couldn't find a way to untap Austin's playmaking ability, it's fair to question whether the all-purpose threat will be more than a complementary piece in the next stage of his career.

In a situation such as this one, we tend to connect the dots to coaches in the player's past. Although Austin began his career under play-caller Brian Schottenheimer in St. Louis, Seattle's current offensive coordinator took criticism for failing to maximize the jitterbug's unique skill-set in St. Louis.

It's hard to imagine the Rams finding a trading partner for an underperforming player with a massive contract millstone hanging around his neck. (NFL.com)

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nf...eturned/ar-BBJKYok?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

sad news on Jim Kelly...

 

One major hurdle is that the CFL outside Toronto care more about the integrity of their game than the money as a whole if push came to shove. The NFL felt they didn't need a deal in place with the CFL and broke their deal a decade ago and they both just kept an agreement that they can't take players under contract from each league. The CFL would likely not accept a deal that essentially made them a straight development league. Any players designated to an NFL team would likely have to stay the entire season in the CFL at least.

 

Tavon Austin has been in the top 10, likely top 5, of players I have talked shit about in the past few years.

 

Yeah, I remember discussing Tavon leading up to that draft. Loved the intangibles, didn't see a true NFL wide receiver, shook my head for probably 2 straight minutes when he went 8th overall, shook it for another 3 straight when I realized the Rams moved up to get him...

Made the comment that I would have rather the Rams drafted his teammate Steadman Bailey in the 4th, only to watch the Rams draft Steadman Bailey in the 3rd, lol.

Someone really loved him in that draft but I can't remember who it was off-hand.

 

It's going to look suspiciously like Tom Brady.

 

I'm sure Bob won't mind... or didn't.

 

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2018/03/01/odell-beckham-jr-contract-new-york-giants-nfl/

OBJ wants $20 mil per year. Good luck with that pal.

 

The man caught 25 passes last year. One 100% healthy season out of four. Odell can suck it.

 

He needs to quit eating shrooms, because he is tripping balls.

 

That "stay the entire season" thing may be a component of whatever development league the NFL finally goes with. With the NFL-E (hard to believe it has been 11 years now), one of the problems the NFL teams had noted was that the NFL-E players were exhausted by the end of training camp and preseason.

The NFL-E players went to a combined training camp in Florida before heading off to Germany (or Amsterdam) for a few weeks of practice with their own teams. Then they had a 10-week schedule from April to mid-June, with the top two teams (1/3 of the total players who went, as there were only six teams in the final years of NFL-E) playing one more game for the league title.

They got back to the US just in time for rookie minicamps (which were in June in those days) and went into training camps in late July only five or six weeks after coming out of the equivalent of a college football season. Other NFL players had been resting and healing from January through June, putting the NFL-E prospects at a disadvantage in the competition for roster spots.

Many NFL-E players did make it in the NFL, and the NFL-E was widely regarded as a huge success as a developmental tool. But most of those players didn't break through until the following seasons, typically spending their season immediately after NFL-E on a practice squad.

While the reason given for ending NFL-E was that the NFL could never break even on it, the fatigue of the returning players was also noted as a factor. By 2006-2007, some NFL teams were signing otherwise random prospects to futures contracts just to send them to Europe rather than sending their own prized prospects.

 

Report: Raiders may cut Michael Crabtree, Marshawn Lynch



Despite comments from Raiders G.M. Reggie McKenzie and coach Jon Gruden that indicated receiver Michael Crabtree and running back Marshawn Lynch were in the plans for 2018, both could be gone before the regular season.

That’s the word from Michael Gehlken of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, who reports that both players are in flux and could be out of Oakland this year.

The issue is the players’ salaries: Crabtree has a cap hit of $7.7 million this season, while Lynch has a cap hit of nearly $6 million and could earn more in performance incentives. The Raiders would like to have both players back, but not necessarily at those prices.

Lynch has a roster bonus of $1 million due on March 18, so the Raiders may need to decide on his status soon. There’s more time to decide on Crabtree’s status. But decisions will need to be made on both players at some point in the months ahead, and those decisions won’t be as easy as McKenzie and Gruden suggested. (PFT)