NFL - NEWS & NOTES

Report: Bosa, 49ers trying to bridge $4M gap in contract talks

Nick Bosa remains away from the 49ers as a contract extension continues to be worked out.

The reigning Defensive Player of the Year is poised to become the highest-paid edge rusher in NFL history as both sides hammer out a lucrative extension. But will he become the highest-paid non-quarterback of all time?

The difference between the two is less than $4 million per year, and Sports Illustrated's senior NFL reporter Albert Breer reported that the 49ers and Bosa's camp have been "trying to bridge that gap for a while now."

Breer added that both sides are eyeing the start of the 2023 season as an unofficial "deadline" to get the deal done, and that it's come down to a matter of when, not if.

On Thursday, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan remained hopeful that he'd see his star defensive player at practice soon. Bosa has been away from the team all summer, but Shanahan doesn't have a deadline for when Bosa needs to report in order for him to play Week 1 on Sept. 10 against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“I don’t,” Shanahan said Thursday when asked by KNBR’s Tom Tolbert and Ray Ratto. “I’ve never had to make that decision before. I won’t make that until I see him. I’m going to do everything I can to hope that he plays against Pittsburgh, but I can’t make that decision until you see a guy out there.

“Hopefully we get a chance to get him into practice next week. If he is, that’ll make it a much easier decision for us.”

With a holiday weekend on the horizon, the 49ers will return to practice Monday with six days to fully prepare for their season opener at Acrisure Stadium.

Shanahan, the 49ers and the 49ers Faithful certainly hope they'll do so with Bosa by their side.

NBC Sports Bay Area

 

I feel like it’s always been that way

 

This is truly a cool and thought provoking article...

Bill Parcells gave $4 million to his former players who were in need



Maybe Bill Parcells always seems a litte grumpy so that no one will ask him for money. Because when his former players do, he gives it to them.

In all, he has given a lot of money to his former players.

Appearing Friday on WFAN, former New York-area sports writer Gary Myers explained that Parcells gave millions to former players, with no expectation the money would be repaid.

“Bill has loaned out $4 million to 20 players that played for him, who come to him in this financial crisis,” Myers said, via Ryan Glasspiegel of the New York Post. “Bill knows when they come to him it’s a last resort.”

Myers said he asked Parcells why he would do that, given that Parcells also didn’t expect to get his money back. Said Parcells to Myers: “These guys have sacrificed so much for me with their bodies and their commitment.”

It’s one of the stories in Myers’s forthcoming book, Once A Giant: A Story of Victory, Tragedy, and Life After Football. It focuses largely on the 1986 Giants, the team Parcells led to the franchise’s first Super Bowl win.

“People are going to find out how Bill Parcells has made this transition from a guy who had love-hate relationships with his players to the patriarch of that ’86 team, now that Wellington Mara has been gone for awhile and Bill has had his 82nd birthday recently,” Myers said, per Glasspiegel.

Now that the cat is out of the bag regarding the Big Tuna’s generosity, he should probably keep his phone turned off. And not just because people will be contacting him for a quote or two. The quickest way to become a target for requests for money is to become known as someone who has a habit of giving it away.

That said, Parcells apparently is willing to do what he can to help those who played for him, whether with the Giants, the Patriots, the Jets, or the Cowboys.

“He’s put away money he needs for the rest of his life, he’s given money to his kids, and what he has left he’s designated to help those close to him who need it,” Myers said.

Maybe other coaches are already doing the same thing for their former players, and we just don’t know about it. Or maybe other coaches will read this and become inspired to help their former players who have fallen on hard times — especially if those hard times arise from the overall physical toll those players absorbed while answering the coach’s call to run straight into the tangle of bodies that has left their own bodies broken.

PFT
________
________________

Big Tuna... big heart too.

 

WR Marquise Goodwin is excited to be back and hopes to be ready for the season opener after missing all of training camp with blood clots.

Training camp has ended, and the Browns' unofficial roster is now at 53. Goodwin, who was recently taken off the non-football illness list, was among those on the practice field Tuesday, marking his first of the entire preseason.

"Never, no doubt I'll be back. This is just something I had to deal with and overcome," Goodwin said. "I am just glad I was able to overcome this situation."

Like in training camp, Goodwin was all smiles Tuesday at practice. Goodwin's main goal this season is just to stay healthy and help the Browns in any way he can.

Cleveland Browns.com

 

It’s looking more and more like the Rams will be without their top offensive weapon next Sunday against the Seahawks. Cooper Kupp suffered a setback with his hamstring injury last week and is considered day-to-day, according to Sean McVay. But Ian Rapoport reported on Saturday that Kupp is in Minnesota to see a specialist about his hamstring issue, hoping to find out the root cause of the injury.

Rapoport added that while the Rams haven’t made a determination about Kupp’s Week 1 status, it’s likely that they’re going to hold him out for the season opener against Seattle. They won’t want to risk re-injury in the first game of the season, potentially sidelining him for even longer.



In Kupp’s absence, Van Jefferson, Tutu Atwell, Puka Nacua, Demarcus Robinson and Ben Skowronek will need to step up. The Rams have the depth at the position to tread water but there’s no replacing one of the best receivers in the NFL.

 

As expected, Jets receiver Randall Cobb will be paying a pretty penny for his blindside block of Giants defensive back Bobby McCain last Saturday night.

Many pretty pennies, to be exact.

Via Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com, Cobb was fined $13,889 for the hit.

The moment contributed to the back-and-forth between Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Giants defensive lineman Jihad Ward, who took exception to the hit and the jovial reaction to it by the Jets. Ward also objected to the characterization of the situation from Hard Knocks.

But for Hard Knocks, the entertaining Rodgers-Ward angle likely wouldn’t be known. So there’s at least one reason to be glad the Jets agreed (involuntarily) to do Hard Knocks.

The Cobb hit was legal for years. As the NFL has become more sensitive to player health and safety, tactics that used to require players to keep their head on a proverbial swivel have been removed from the rulebook.

PFT

 

Remember Chad Kelly, he is now the highest paid player in the CFL. Just to show the monetary differences between the CFL and the NFL, check this out...

Kelly signed a three-year, $1.865 million deal.

He’s due to receive a $250,000 signing bonus in 2024, but it will be invalidated if he signs with an NFL team between December 2023 and February 2024.

During the ongoing 2023 season, Kelly has completed 149 of 213 passes for 2,402 passing yards. He has thrown 16 passing touchdowns against seven interceptions.

 

Cowboys sign Terence Steele to five-year extension

Solid NFL offensive linemen usually don’t emerge from the ranks of undrafted free agents. Terence Steele is one of the exceptions.

Steele, undrafted in 2020, has become a key piece of the Dallas offensive line. And the Cowboys have taken care of him with, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, a five-year, $86.8 million contract extension. The contract includes $50 million in total guarantees, and $5 million in potential upside.

Factoring in the $4.304 million Steele was due to earn in 2023, it’s a six-year, $91.1 million contract. It has an average new-money value of $17.36 million, and an average from signing of $15.18 million per year.

The deal comes at a time when the Cowboys have two major contract issues looming. One comes from Dak Prescott’s crippling $59.455 million cap charge in 2024. The other comes from the widespread expectation that Micah Parsons will expect to be made the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history as soon as the 2023 season ends.

Regardless, the possibility that Steele will get snatched up by another team in free agency has been eliminated.

The former Texas Tech tackle has 45 regular-season appearances with 40 starts. He also caught a touchdown pass in 2021.

PFT

 

The thing that I don’t like is that a player can get the highest pay for his position in league history and not be the best or second best or third best and so on at his position. Watt, Bosa x 2, Garrett are all much better than Parsons but he will be the higher paid of the group.

 

That's just economics and teams either being desperate to hang on to the talent they drafted or trying to add a player they think puts them over the top.

What I don't like is big contracts at certain positions having so much influence on how a GM builds a roster. I'm an advocate of having salary caps by position or a cap as percentage of overall roster salary. The players union would likely never agree to any ideas along those lines, however.

 

Travis Kelce hyperextended knee during practice, status for Thursday uncertain

The Chiefs have an injury concern with one of their most important players.

Head coach Andy Reid said in his press conference that tight end Travis Kelce hyperextended his knee during Tuesday’s practice, which makes Kelce’s status for Thursday’s season opener uncertain.

“They’re looking at it now, so we’ll see how it goes,” Reid said.

Aside from Kelce, the Chiefs have Blake Bell and Noah Gray on their 53-man roster at tight end with Matt Bushman and Gerrit Prince on the practice squad. Jody Fortson is on injured reserve with a shoulder injury in August.

The Chiefs will release a second injury report later on Tuesday, but the club’s game statuses won’t be released until Wednesday. That might be the next definitive update on Kelce’s status for Thursday night and beyond.

Last season, Kelce caught a career-high 110 passes for 1,338 yards with a career-high 12 touchdowns. He added 27 receptions for 257 yards with four TDs as the Chiefs won their second Super Bowl in four years.

NBC

 

Noah Gray and Blake Bell are behind Kelce on the depth chart if Kelce cant go.

 

Nick Bosa contract extension gets done. So he will be on the field Sunday.

 

One major holdout has come to an end.

Edge rusher Nick Bosa and the 49ers have agreed to a five-year, $170 million extension, according to multiple reports, making Bosa the highest-paid defensive player in league history.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports the deal includes $122.5 million guaranteed.

The 2022 AP Defensive Player of the Year, Bosa led the league with 18.5 sacks last season to go with his 19 tackles for loss and 48 quarterback hits.

Bosa has been an impact player since the 49ers selected him at No. 2 overall in 2019, winning AP Defensive Rookie of the Year that season as he helped San Francisco reach the Super Bowl. While he missed nearly all of 2020 due to injury, he returned in 2021 to play all 17 games and record 15.5 sacks, 21 tackles for loss, and 32 QB hits.

Now that Bosa has agreed to a deal, he is in a position to potentially play against Pittsburgh in San Francisco’s season opener.

NBC
__________
_________________

No official word that Ive seen, but in my opinion, he wouldnt miss it for the world!

 

$122.5M guaranteed, wtf

 

Seahawks expect Jaxon Smith-Njigba to play this week

Seahawks first-round pick Jaxon Smith-Njigba is on track to play against the Rams in Week One.

Smith-Njigba had wrist surgery a couple of weeks ago and he resumed practicing last week. Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said at that time that the team hoped the wideout would be able to play in the season opener and Carroll told reporters on Wednesday that he expects Smith-Njigba to be in the lineup.

Having Smith-Njigba would give the Seahawks their full complement of first-team receivers for Geno Smith to work with. DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett round out that group.

The team’s other first-round pick also returned to practice this week, but Carroll said he was not ready to say if cornerback Devon Witherspoon will play. Witherspoon has been dealing with a hamstring injury.

PFT
________
_______________

Get jiggy with it! Sorry

 

Jones was with teammates delivering burgers today. He said if a deal gets done he will be on the field. Better hurry.

 

Tomlin did well by practicing as if Bosa would be the starter. Tomlin is good, period.