The Le’Veon Bell saga is coming to a head, as the Steelers running back must sign his franchise tender by November 13 to be eligible to play for any team this season. But as Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports writes, the CBA does not dictate that Bell must report by that day, only that he sign the tender. That means that Bell could sign the tender and not report until next Saturday, which would make him eligible to be added to the roster for next Sunday’s game — not that he would be playing in that game regardless — or he could just not sign the tender at all and skip the entire season.
The latter option is not considered likely at this time, but La Canfora says that if Bell does skip the entire 2018 campaign, the Steelers would strongly consider slapping the franchise or transition tag on him next offseason, which would of course set up another drama-filled battle. La Canfora further reports that no rival clubs called Pittsburgh at last week’s trade deadline in an attempt to acquire Bell.
Now for more the league’s North divisions:
- When the Browns have hired a new head coach in recent seasons, they have used a search firm, but Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network (video link) says he would be surprised if the team, with respected GM John Dorsey now in charge, goes that route when it looks for another HC this offseason. Rapoport’s sources expect Dorsey to conduct the search himself, and they expect that he will do so very “secretly.” Rapoport says one name under consideration would be Josh McDaniels, who is reportedly open to revisiting HC opportunities (should another one come his way), and RapSheet also lists John DeFilippo, Mike McCarthy, and Lincoln Riley as potential targets.
- Bengals WR A.J. Green is battling a toe injury, per Rapoport (via Twitter), who says that Green either has visited or will visit foot specialist Dr. Robert Anderson. There will be more clarity on the injury soon, and Rapoport says surgery remains on the table. Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets that Green is expected to miss time regardless of whether he has surgery.
- Vikings WR Stefon Diggs will miss today’s game with a rib injury, per Rapoport (video link), though it is uncertain whether Diggs will miss any additional time (given that he expected to play today and was listed as questionable on the final injury report, it seems that he’ll be ready to go after Minnesota’s bye next week. Meanwhile, RB Dalvin Cook is expected to hit the field today, which will mark his first appearance since Week 4. Cook will be on a pitch count and is only expected to see 20 snaps or so, but when the team returns from bye, it could have Cook and Diggs at full strength.
- The Packers signed punter Drew Kaser yesterday, but the team is not moving on from incumbent J.K. Scott at this time, per ESPN.com. However, it is still an open question as to whether Scott will be punting against the Patriots tonight.
- We learned earlier today that Ravens HC John Harbaugh is on the hot seat as the team faces a critical divisional matchup against Pittsburgh this afternoon.
Brown’s should think outside the box. McDaniels is a flashy hire but you want a new school mind but a qb oriented coach to develop Mayfield.
I mean look at what Sean McVay has done to Goff and what Pederson did to Wentz/Foles.
They should hire Sean Ryan the Texans QB coach. He’s studied under NFL guru Tom Coughlin and under offensive minded Bill O Brien and has had a hand in deshaun Watson development.
Then the browns should draft oline and sign WR to help out Mayfield.
Some interesting players in FA.
Tyrell Williams could be a good target hes tall lengthy and could be had for cheap. Would paid nicely on the outside with Landry. Golden Tate could be good for Mayfield development given his catch ability. Kelvin Benjamin could be another tall target option.
Draft oline, draft a decent back up TE, get safety help.
Draft the best Left tackle available, maybe even use both picks on Tackle & Guard.
Jonah Williams from Alabama or Greg Little from Ole
miss. And the best guard.
Agreed, and those are good choices.
It is a terrible idea to have a young QB dictating who the next HC will be. Your essentially making that head coach a hostage, with his job dependent on the performance of a single player. It also sets up a situation that will lead to players complaining about favoritism and special treatment.
Head coaches jobs are dependent on how a QB plays. QB is single handedly the most important position in the NFL.
If youre receiving bad QB play 99% of the time you are not winning which leads to being fired. See what Blake Bortles is doing to the Jaguars this year.
You bring in a guy who is going to get the most out of your QB. Scheme, Theory, Accessibility.
John DeFillipo is a better coordinator and a better QB coach than McDaniels ever was or will be… my preference would be Riley, Defilipo and John Harbaugh before any other coaches. Those coaches also have to get along w Dorsey, who is clearly in charge of the team. Something Browns have not had in a long time, clear leadership roles.
I hope Bell stays away, but it would be tempting to give him the finger back and tag him for next season.
Dorsey’s head coach search should be interesting. I hope he does a better job than that stupid search firm did.
An owner shouldn’t even be hiring a GM who has to rely on a search firm. It looks like the Browns hired a company that is still trying to find Jimmy Hoffa.
I feel like using a search firm just shows how unconnected the previous Browns front office was from football. I wonder if any other team has used this practice.