As most of the sports world is fixated on the third round of the NCAA tournament, let’s take a look at a few notes from around the NFL:
- Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that Ben Roethlisberger‘s new contract will not prevent the Steelers from making necessary signings over the life of the deal.
- Bears head coach John Fox is enthusiastic about the team’s recent signings, but he admits that his club has a lot of needs to address. As Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune writes, Fox prefers to be more active in the second wave of free agency rather than the first wave, when teams frequently overpay for a splash acquisition. Biggs expects the team to add at least one wide receiver, but that addition could come via the draft rather than the dwindling free agent market.
- Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com looks at where the Lions stand vis-a-vis their own free agents two weeks into the free agency period.
- Geoff Mosher of CSNPhilly.com believes Sam Bradford will be the Eagles‘ quarterback in 2015, and possibly beyond.
- The Dolphins lead the league in dead money, according to James Walker of ESPN.com. The team has $23.7MM of this year’s cap allocated to players who will not help them this season.
- Eric D. Williams of ESPN.com looks at a few of the names the Chargers could target in the draft as they look to bolster their pass rush.
- The NFL is hosting the inaugural Veteran Combine today, which is “designated to showcase players who have already left college and many who have already played in the NFL to teams in an effort to be signed as free agents.” Although a number of prominent front office executives, like Steelers GM Kevin Colbert, are skeptical of the Combine’s value, all 32 teams are nonetheless doing their due diligence at the event. Kevin Bowen of Colts.com writes that the Combine has the Colts‘ interest, and Conor Orr of NFL.com tweets that Rick Spielman, Reggie McKenzie, and John Dorsey are among the top executives on hand.
- Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com looks at the true value of all of the contracts signed in the second week of free agency.