As of this morning, the NFL had not offered a settlement proposal to embattled Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, according to Tom Pelissero of USA Today, who also confirms Peter King of Sports Illustrated’s earlier report that a ruling in Peterson’s appeal case could come next week. Arbitrator Harold Henderson has encouraged the two parties to reach an agreement that would preclude the need for him to issue a formal decision, but it sounds like that hasn’t happened yet. Here’s more from around the league…
- More from Pelissero, who tweets the league and the union are working to schedule the grievance hearing between Ray Rice and the Ravens. Rice, of course, already won his reinstatement to the NFL after appealing his suspension. Succeeding against the Ravens would entitle him to roughly $3.5MM in lost salary.
- After suffering a 41-28 loss at the hands of the Cowboys on Thursday night, Bears head coach Marc Trestman told reporters, including Michael C. Wright of ESPN.com, that the club won’t make any coaching changes at this time. Trestman mad a similar declaration in November after the Bears were dominated by the Packers. Defensive coordinator Mel Tucker is taking the brunt of the criticism in Chicago, as his defense ranks dead last in point per game allowed and 27th in DVOA.
- The Cowboys will be up against the cap again in 2015 — currently, they have just over $1.2MM available in cap space for next season. As Rick Gosselin of the the Dallas Morning News writes, the club has several decisions to make regarding its offensive stars — namely Dez Bryant and DeMarco Murray — but it will need cap relief in order to fix its defense. Dallas’ only impact defender, per Gosselin, is linebacker Rolando McClain, also a free agent this offseason. I would guess that Jerry Jones & Co. will attempt to restructure Tony Romo‘s contract in order to create the cap room needed to retain at least a few free agents.
- Amid reports of turmoil along the Jets’ coaching staff, Rex Ryan denied that he considered firing offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg, according to Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. As Smith writes, the point is probably moot, as Ryan and the rest of the coaching staff will likely be let go at the end of the season.