As Week 11 winds down, here’s the latest news from around the league.
- Peyton Manning‘s acceptance of a potential front office position could have to wait, with both Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer and Florio (on NBC’s telecast) hearing the 39-year-old quarterback may want to play one more season. It’s doubtful the Broncos keep Manning around at a figure close to the $21.5MM he’s set to earn in 2016 during the fifth year of his five-year contract, but Florio reported Manning would consider continuing his career on another team. Cabot reports Manning might be hesitant to join the Browns‘ front office since his wife Ashley, a part owner of the Memphis Grizzlies, would prefer to stay in the south.
- An old topic appears to be regaining some steam, with Roger Goodell telling Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (on Twitter) a move to expand the regular season is on the table. This would apparently involve reducing the preseason, per Tomasson, who didn’t specify whether this means the 18-game figure that caused so much contention between the NFL and NFLPA years ago. NFLPA president Eric Winston recently didn’t rule out an expansion to 18 games, but Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk views this subject’s resurfacing centering on the growing number of international games aligning schedules and some teams’ reluctance to give up home contests.
- The Cowboys‘ patience with Greg Hardy is waning, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (as relayed by NFL.com’s Conor Orr). In addition to the on-field blowups and photos of Nicole Holder emerging recently, Hardy’s late nights are a concern to the team despite the defensive end being on a one-year deal. Hardy also showed up late for a meeting last Saturday night before the Cowboys’ game against the Buccaneers. This has induced dialogue between Hardy and Jason Garrett, Jerry Jones and various team veterans.
- As he’s done throughout the season, though, Jones came to Hardy’s aid. “He is aware that everything he does — his personality, his style, his enthusiasm — it’s all going to be interpreted negatively,” Jones told ESPN.com’s Jean-Jacque Taylor. “If he’s not aware of that, then he’s hurting a lot of people. I think he really gets that. We certainly feel that way. He understands it, and he has agreed to really work on it.” This seems to contradict the above report, but it’s in line with Jones’ comments on the embattled defender throughout the season.
- The Ravens will bring in another quarterback (Twitter link via Jeff Zreibec of the Baltimore Sun) after Joe Flacco‘s torn ACL injury, which Zreibec notes (on Twitter) the Ravens are confident is a torn ACL and MCL. Zreibec tweets Jason Campbell, Rex Grossman and Bengals practice squad member Keith Wenning are options. Wenning spent time on the Ravens’ roster last season.
- Brian Hoyer will stay as the Texans‘ starter when he returns from a concussion, Bill O’Brien informed the Houston Chronicle’s Aaron Wilson. T.J. Yates has helped the Texans to back-to-back wins, while Hoyer sports a 13-to-4 touchdown pass-to-interception ratio.
I think Yates deserves a shot, he lead them to 2 wins. I guess if you can’t make a TD pass to JJ Watt you get benched
I can’t imagine Peyton coming back for another season. He performed so poorly this year that the Broncos were probably relieved that they could point to the partial tear in his foot as a reason to put in Osweiler. As Denver will be in rebuilding mode and will likely want to move on, Peyton would probably need to catch on with a team desperate for a QB that would appreciate his name value. Such a team is likely not going to be a championship contender, and it would be sad to watch him go out limping through a season for a mediocre club.