On a busy Friday for NFL signings (Maurice Jones-Drew, LeGarrette Blount) and cuts (DeSean Jackson), let’s check out some of the latest headlines from around the league’s two North divisions….
- Derek Carr‘s private workout with the Browns is scheduled for Monday, a source tells Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com.
- In a round-up of Ravens notes, Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun says he gets the sense from talking to people around the team that Corey Graham was the toughest free agent departure this month. Zrebiec also writes that that if Baltimore doesn’t draft a quarterback, the club could wait until after the draft to see if a team that does take a QB jettisons one of its veterans.
- As Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune details, Bears head coach Marc Trestman has a number of traits he’s looking for in a No. 2 quarterback.
- It appears likely that the Packers will ultimately end up re-signing Matt Flynn to compete with Scott Tolzien for the team’s backup job, writes Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com.
- As Nick Fairley heads into the 2014 season without the security of the Lions picking up his fifth-year option for 2015, Kyle Meinke of MLive.com says the team shouldn’t reward Fairley with a lucrative contract next year even if he has a strong ’14.
- Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com has the details on a pair of new contracts: Vlad Ducasse inked a one-year, minimum salary benefit deal with the Vikings that includes a $65K signing bonus, while Domata Peko‘s two-year extension with the Bengals includes a $4.4MM roster bonus for 2014 and is worth $9MM in total.