NFL - NEWS & NOTES

Bills sign Leonard Floyd



The Bills have just made a big addition to their pass rush.

Veteran pass rusher Leonard Floyd has agreed to a one-year deal in Buffalo, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

The 30-year-old Floyd has played the last three seasons for the Rams after playing his first four NFL seasons with the Bears. Last year he started all 17 games and recorded nine sacks.

By signing Floyd, the Bills are making a major statement that they’re committed to winning the Super Bowl this year, and a big step toward that will be Floyd putting pressure on Aaron Rodgers, Tua Tagovailoa, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow and the other quarterbacks the Bills will have to beat if they’re going to get further than the divisional round of the playoffs, where they’ve lost the last two years.

Bills pass rusher Von Miller is coming off a torn ACL and says he thinks he can play Week One, but whether Miller is there to open the season or not, the Bills now know they’ve got an established veteran pass rusher.

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Jerry Jones not ruling out re-signing Ezekiel Elliott

Cowboys owner and General Manager Jerry Jones remains open to the possibility that running back Ezekiel Elliott could play in Dallas this year.

Jones told reporters today that he has not ruled out re-signing Elliott and that the team is evaluating Elliott while Elliott also evaluates his own options.

That matches what Jones has been saying throughout the offseason. Although the Cowboys released Elliott because he was overpaid on his former contract, they’re not opposed to bringing him back if he’s willing to play for significantly less.

The 27-year-old Elliott is coming off a season in which he had a career-low 876 rushing yards, a career-low 3.8 yards per carry, a career-low 92 receiving yards, and a career-low 5.4 yards per catch. Given that, it would be hard to justify paying him significant money — especially because the Cowboys have already guaranteed running back Troy Pollard a $10.091 million base salary for this season.

But for the right price, Elliott could be a Cowboy this season.

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One of my all-time Favs...

 

Didn’t he do the Miller Lite commercials with Bob Ucker?

 

Yes he did... I think. Long time ago, but it sounds familar.

 

Bills plan grass field for new stadium



After half a century on artificial turf, the Bills are making plans to play on grass.

The Bills had their groundbreaking ceremony at their new stadium on Monday, and afterward General Manager Brandon Beane said the stadium will have a grass field.

“Another positive is it’s going to be grass,” Beane told Pat McAfee. “We have these debates of turf vs. grass, so that was one of the big things we pushed for. It’s going to be grass like Lambeau has, have all that coil underneath to keep the field warm. So, very excited about that.”

Most NFL players prefer grass fields, and the players’ union has argued that all fields should be grass. Owners tend to prefer artificial turf for its versatility in bringing other events to stadiums. Beane said that unlike many of the modern stadiums that have been built with the idea of attracting concerts and other major events that are easier to stage on artificial surfaces, the new stadium in Buffalo is being built with football in mind.

“It’s really going to be built football-based,” he said.

The Bills’ current stadium has always used artificial turf, since it first opened in 1973. The new stadium with the grass field is expected to be ready for use in 2026.

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If you can make a natural grass field work in Buffalo in the Winter... then it might just become mandatory League wide in the not to distant future.

 

Trio of Browns players robbed in three separate incidents

Three different Cleveland Browns players have been robbed in recent days in three separate incidents.

It was first reported by Brandon Little of Browns Digest that running back/wide receiver Demetric Felton had his car stolen on Sunday from a parking garage in Cleveland. Per Little, Felton said he thinks that somebody "followed him into his parking garage and stole the car after he parked it."

Little then reported on Sunday night that cornerback Greg Newsome II was robbed of his vehicle at gunpoint. According to the report, the carjacking occurred at Filter Experience on West Superior Avenue in Cleveland.

Little reported on the third robbery late Sunday, writing that an unnamed player was robbed of his car and some jewelry. He added that with the latest news, it's now a "clear vision that Browns players are being targeted for their belongings."

YARDBARKER

 

Scary...

 

To think that you have a bunch of pussies on your team that people aren’t afraid to rob.

 

2 of the 3 Browns players were robbed by 6 masked and armed perps... what would you do?

 

Not gonna lie... I laughed at this one...

 

Damar Hamlin fully participates in Bills practice




Bills safety Damar Hamlin has taken another significant step on his path back to playing in an NFL game.

Hamlin was a full participant in Tuesday’s OTA practice session, which General Manager Brandon Beane said “was really important for him” as he continues to make his way back from going into cardiac arrest while making a tackle during a game late in the 2022 season.

“He’s worked really hard on the mental side of this. Physically, he’s all cleared but this is a real deal from a mental standpoint after you’ve been to where he was,” Beane said.

Beane said the team will “continue to ramp him up” during next week’s mandatory minicamp and said that the next “big hurdle” for Hamlin will come in training camp when the pads come on. Hamlin will have to make his first tackle since that night in Cincinnati and that’s part of the mental recovery that Beane discussed with reporters on Tuesday.

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Commanders defensive end Chase Young is heading into a pivotal season and he said on Tuesday that he feels a “night and day” difference from where he was last year.



Young returned for the final three games of the year after an extended recovery from a torn ACL and cited “my confidence, my strength” as reasons why he feels so different now. Young said he felt “explosive” on the field during Tuesday’s minicamp practice, but the state of his knee wasn’t the only topic of conversation.

The Commanders declined their option on Young’s contract for 2024 and Young was asked if he was using that as motivation for the coming season. Young said he can “use a lot of things as motivation” and that he’s always played with urgency.

“Since I came into the game, I was in the game to prove myself. So I’m not really thinking any different than going out there and play my game,” Young said.

The Commanders re-signed Daron Payne this offseason after declining his fifth-year option. If Young can prove that he and his knee are back to pre-injury form, it could be two in a row for Washington.

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Amari Cooper: If I were Deshaun Watson, I’d want to bring in DeAndre Hopkins



Last week, Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson made it clear he’d like to reunite with free-agent receiver DeAndre Hopkins.

“[O]f course we’d love to have him,” Watson told reporters of his former Texans teammate.

Watson’s current No. 1 target, Amari Cooper, said on Tuesday that he hadn’t caught wind of those remarks. But he also is not opposed to Cleveland adding Hopkins.

“I didn’t see that, but who wouldn’t? DeAndre has been a very great player in this league,” Cooper said in his press conference. “Obviously, they have a lot of great chemistry. If I was him, I’d want the same thing.”

Cooper noted that adding Hopkins would give the Browns a player with a different skillset than his own who can get the job done.

“With DeAndre, he’s pretty unstoppable with the way he uses his hands and his body to position himself well to make the catch,” Cooper said. “So, it would be pretty good.”

Cooper led the Browns last year with 78 catches, 1,160 yards, and nine touchdowns. If Cleveland were to add Hopkins, it would likely cut into Cooper’s targets — which the receiver would be OK with as long as that translates to victories.

“You add a great receiver like that, that’s probably going to happen because there’s only one ball — everybody’s got to get their touches,” Cooper said. “So, as long as it’s helping us win, I wouldn’t have a problem with it.”

Cleveland has already made some additions to the receivers room, notably trading for Elijah Moore and signing Marquise Goodwin. Cooper says the vibe has been good with the room as it stands, with players excelling in the offseason program.

“I mean, the more the merrier — the more guys who can make plays, the more plays that are going to be made,” Cooper said. “It’s just that simple. So, I think that’s the philosophy behind it.”

Cooper wasn’t asked about Hopkins when he said that. But if Cleveland does end up signing Hopkins, that’s likely how the club’s quarterback will feel about his targets.

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I did after a moment, but not at first... Im slow today. I do know Gid was just poking at you guys... Its all good!

Poke away!

 

If it made people laugh then it was a good one. Low hanging fruit is easy to pick.

 

@IrishDawg42 I think he just called you a fruit.

 

T.J. Watt reflects on 'frustrating' 2022 season, says he's 'evolving' training to avoid future injuries

T.J. Watt's follow-up to his record-tying 2021 season didn't go as envisioned.

A pen and paper might be necessary to keep track of all of the injuries he was forced to deal with in 2022. It began with a torn pectoral, continued with a procedure to clean up his knee, and included a rib ailment.

"I was not 100 percent for a lot of the games, and it was frustrating," Watt told The Athletic. "I just wanted to play football, and I couldn't the way I wanted to. It was tough. … It wasn't easy. It sucked not being able to participate and not being able to put your hand in the pile."

In total, the health problems cost Watt seven games -- a remarkable total, considering the severity of his pectoral injury -- and limited him to 5.5 sacks, 17 less than his 22.5-sack 2021 season. He still earned a trip to the Pro Bowl, but for the first time since 2018, Watt missed out on All-Pro honors and fell short of double-digit sacks for only the second time in his six-year career.

Watt's 2021 season earned him the Defensive Player of the Year award he'd narrowly missed out on winning in 2019 and 2020. The expectation was he'd continue to play at an elite level in the prime of his career, but that was sidetracked with his Week 1 injury, forcing him out of Pittsburgh's season opener at Cincinnati.

The footage of Watt walking to the locker room for further examination was all the football world would see from him for nearly two months. Now that he's been given time to recover, Watt has acknowledged he has some miles on him, and needed to adjust his training.

The torn pectoral was a "freak injury," but he knows mobility and flexibility will be increasingly important to his future.

"I am not training as I was when I was 22, I will tell you that," Watt said. "It makes no sense now. What I have learned is as you get older, you are always evolving. No offseason is the same. You are always evolving and learning about your body, and as I get older, that's how I have approached every offseason, and this one was a little different than the others."

Prior to 2022, Watt was not one to miss many games. He missed just one contest in the first three years of his career, appeared in 15 of 16 in 2020, and played in 15 of 17 in 2021.

With an adjustment in training and time to consider his future, Watt knows 2023 and beyond will come down to one ability more than anything: availability.

"I just need to stay healthy and everything else will take care of itself," Watt said.

NFL.com

 

Im leaning towards the AFC North as the most competitive Division in football going into the 2023 season... Cincinnati is the king of the hill to begin with, Baltimore can be better, dont know if they will be, pending on Lamars health, but the Ravens are #2 with the Steelers in the mix and the Browns will be much better. Its the most intriguing Division to say the least.