Former NFL QB Anthony Wright Shot
Former NFL quarterback Anthony Wright was shot multiple times on Monday, according to the Concord (N.C.) Independent Tribune. Wright was rushed to the hospital and taken into emergency surgery, and he is presently in stable condition.
Wright reportedly got into an altercation with his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend, William “Willie” Moses Hooker Jr., and shots were fired. An arrest warrant has been issued for Hooker.
Wright, a three-year starter at South Carolina, signed with the Steelers as an undrafted free agent in 1999. Pittsburgh was impressed enough by his potential that it kept him as a fourth QB during the 1999 season. He was waived in August 2000 and caught on with the Cowboys, ultimately starting five games for Dallas over the 2000-01 seasons.
His most productive stint came with the Ravens in 2003, when he started seven games following an injury to starter Kyle Boller. Wright compiled a 5-2 record en route to an AFC North title, though the club’s offense mostly ran through Jamal Lewis, who racked up 2,066 rushing yards that season.
Wright started seven games for Baltimore again in the 2005 campaign, but he went just 2-5 and was not re-signed after the season. He captured a Super Bowl ring as the Giants’ third-string QB in 2007, but that was the last year he would see any game action.
Latest On CBA Discussions, Jerry Jones’ Involvement
There is plenty of reason for optimism right now with respect to a new collective bargaining agreement, and we even heard today that the league and the union hope to have a new agreement hammered out before the 2019 regular season gets underway. While that is far from a certainty at this point, it’s at least encouraging that the two sides are actively trying to avoid a work stoppage like the one we saw in 2011.
One of the key figures in this round of negotiations is Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes. Never one to shy away from the spotlight, Jones has taken a more visible and vocal role this time around after watching Patriots owner Robert Kraft take charge back in 2011. Jones reportedly wants a large share of the credit for getting the next deal done, though it’s unclear whether his involvement will facilitate matters or throw a wrench into the works.
Indeed, Florio reports that, at a recent bargaining session, Jones and Bills linebacker Lorenzo Alexander had a “spirited discussion” about player health and safety that created some friction. And Jones’ very public campaign against commissioner Roger Goodell in 2017 could be a source of tension, though Florio says the two men have largely reconciled.
One of the issues that Jones, his fellow owners, and the NFLPA will have to resolve is stadium credits. Albert Breer of TheMMQB (Twitter link) notes that media deals will also be a major topic of conversation — the league’s current broadcast deals expire in 2023, and the emergence of streaming services like Amazon Prime and Netflix will greatly complicate matters — and the revenue split between owners and players will be revisited.
Florio suggests that a new CBA is not likely to be agreed upon by the start of the season, and Breer likewise hears that the meetings that have taken place so far have been to identify issues, not necessarily to resolve them. Perhaps more substantive work will get done at the bargaining sessions that are currently scheduled for July 17-19.
Florio does indicate that Goodell is hoping to parlay the new CBA into a new round of media deals and then retire not long thereafter. The CBA and the network deals could be done, if not by the start of the season, then at least before the Super Bowl in February.
Ezekiel Elliott On Meeting With Commissioner
Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott met with commissioner Roger Goodell today to discuss a May incident in Las Vegas during which Elliott was briefly detained by police after bumping a security guard. After the summit with Goodell, Elliott released the following statement on Twitter:
“Earlier today, I met with the Commissioner to share with him what occurred in Las Vegas and what I have learned from that incident. I’ve worked hard to make better decisions and to live up to the high standards that are expected of me. I failed to do that here and I made a poor decision. I apologized to [security guard] Kyle Johnson at the time and I meant it. I need to work harder to ensure that I do not put myself in compromised situations in the future. I am rededicating myself to use all of the resources that the league has made available. But in the end, it is up to me and I am determined not to be in this position again.”
Elliott certainly sounds like a man who has gotten a thorough talking-to, and his contrition may be enough to stave off a suspension. Given Elliott’s track record, though, Goodell may well have warned the two-time rushing champion that even minor incidents like this one could be more damaging to him than they would be to a player without a disciplinary history.
Veteran NFL reporter Ed Werder said he does not expect Zeke to be hit with a suspension (Twitter link), and Clarence E. Hill Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says that no criminal charges are expected to be filed. Hill also reports that Johnson hugged Elliott and took a picture with him after the incident, though he later requested a sincere apology.
Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network also hears from league sources that Elliott is unlikely to be suspended, and that the meeting with Goodell was more of an opportunity for the commissioner to warn Elliott to keep himself out of potentially troublesome situations going forward (video link). Interestingly, Garafolo adds that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones sent team counsel to the meeting, even though such meetings are generally attended by an NFLPA rep and/or the player’s own lawyer. Jones and Goodell have apparently reconciled enough to work together on the new CBA, but matters involving Elliott still seem to be sensitive for Jones.
Bills Ownership Remains Committed To Buffalo
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell ruffled some feathers in Buffalo earlier this month when, speaking at Jim Kelly‘s annual charity golf tournament, he said he believes that a new stadium is essential to the stability of the Bills’ franchise. He went on to say that team ownership will need to address the club’s stadium situation at some point in the near future to keep the Bills in Buffalo.
That is not the first time Goodell has made comments of that sort, but it still set off a few alarm bells. Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula, though, attempted to downplay the ominous nature of Goodell’s remarks. In an interview with the Associated Press (h/t Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk), Kim Pegula said, “Roger knows where we stand. We weren’t at all upset or thought that he was trying to say anything differently.”
The Pegulas are committed to keeping the Bills right where they are, but they also acknowledge that getting a new stadium to make good on that commitment won’t be easy. Kim Pegula said, “It’s a big, big nut to crack. It’s going to take some patience on everyone’s part.”
As Florio observes, it remains to be seen whether the Pegulas can secure enough private funding from the league and enough public money from the city to make a new stadium feasible, and whether the new stadium would even be a viable long-term investment. One factor that could have a major impact on the Bills’ fate could be stadium credits, a system in which revenue that would otherwise be shared by management and players would instead be funneled into the construction and renovation of stadiums. That issue is not being talked about much right now, but it is likely to become a key component of the upcoming CBA negotiations between the league and the union.
Florio also opines that the Pegulas’ commitment to Buffalo may not be the best way to maximize their leverage with the city, and if they want to get as much public funding as possible for a new stadium, they may need to threaten relocation and stop attempting to placate the fan base.
Dorial Green-Beckham Facing More Criminal Charges
In December, Eagles and Titans wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham was arrested for a drug-related offense. As Darin Gantt of Pro Football Talk writes, that drug arrest violated the probation that DGB had been on due to a previous DWI arrest, and he was sentenced to 90 days in jail as a result of the probation violation.
And now, shortly after his release from jail, Green-Beckham is being formally charged with two misdemeanors for the December incident, which featured his attempting to flee through a window and being tasered. DGB is still just 26, but however long his odds of returning to the NFL were, they just got even longer.
It’s another disappointing installment in DGB’s journey. Once one of the nation’s most prized recruits in high school, he was productive during his two collegiate seasons at Mizzou, but he was dismissed by the school in April 2014 as a result of the legal troubles that had already started to plague him. He transferred to Oklahoma but was required to sit out the entire 2014 season due to NCAA transfer rules, and he entered the 2015 NFL draft without ever having played a snap for the Sooners.
The Titans took a chance on him, making him the 40th-overall pick in 2015. His rookie campaign stats (32 catches for 549 yards and four TDs) were promising enough, but Tennessee traded him to the Eagles in August 2016 largely because of his poor work ethic. Philadelphia waived him in June 2017, and he has not been in the league since.
Jared Lorenzen Battling Major Health Issues
Jared Lorenzen appeared in just four games during his NFL career, completing four of eight passes for 28 yards and rushing two times for a total of four yards. But he did serve as Eli Manning‘s backup QB in New York during the 2006-07 seasons, and his large frame and southpaw delivery made him more popular and more recognizable than most second-string signal-callers.
Now, though, the “Hefty Lefty” moniker hints at something more dangerous than novel. During his NFL days, Lorenzen was the heaviest QB in the league, checking in at 285 pounds. But two years ago, Lorenzen tipped the scales at over 500 pounds, and ESPN ran a story on his efforts to get healthy (video link). By April 2018, Lorenzen had reportedly shed 100 pounds, and while it’s unclear what his current weight is, his overall health has apparently deteriorated.
A statement from Lorenzen’s family (Twitter link via Matt Jones of KentuckySportsRadio.com) reads as follows:
“On Friday, June 28, Jared began playing a bigger, more important game than he’s ever played before. Jared had not been feeling well for a few weeks and that finally caught up with him. He was brought to the hospital and fairly quickly was admitted to the ICU. Jared is battling an infection, kidney and heart issues. He is fighting with everything he has and his immediate family is by his side. We will attempt to update as often as possible, but please respect that some aspects of this journey are private matters.”
Lorenzen was a standout at the University of Kentucky from 2000-03, compiling over 10,000 passing yards and 78 touchdowns to 41 picks. After he was waived by the Colts in 2008, he hooked on with several indoor football league clubs and even served as the commissioner of the Ultimate Indoor Football League. Last January, he joked that he would be open to joining the XFL as part of its reboot.
We at PFR wish Lorenzen the best in his latest battle.
Ravens TE Hayden Hurst Ready For Training Camp
After a June 25 post on Rotoworld.com indicated that Ravens TE Hayden Hurst was questionable for training camp due to lingering hamstring issues, NBC Sports Washington published a post of its own relaying that message. Hurst succinctly tweeted that he is not, in fact, questionable for training camp, and NBC Sports Washington updated its previous post to say that Hurst will be ready to go when the team reconvenes next month.
That is obviously welcome news for Ravens fans. Much of the attention on the Ravens’ offseason has focused upon the departure of some key defensive players, the development of second-year QB Lamar Jackson, and whether the club will regret relying so heavily on two rookies (Marquise Brown and Miles Boykin) at wide receiver. But for all of those concerns, the club could boast the best TE corps in the league — which would obviously help Jackson’s progress and take some pressure off the rookie wideouts — if Hurst can remain healthy.
Still, that’s a big “if.” Last August, Hurst underwent surgery for a stress fracture in his foot that cost him the first quarter of the 2018 season, and he conceded during a recent interview on 105.7 The Fan that he never felt quite right the rest of the year. Hurst was Baltimore’s first of two first-round draft choices last year, but he was decidedly overshadowed by 2018 third-rounder Mark Andrews, who enjoyed a terrific rookie campaign and who is one of the main sources of optimism for the Ravens’ offense.
Hurst also tweaked his hamstring earlier this month and was held out of an OTA as a result — which gave rise to the apparently erroneous Rotoworld post — but he was a full participant in minicamp and expects to make a big jump in Year 2. In addition to being a smooth route runner with excellent hands, Hurst is a strong blocker, which will be essential to the Ravens’ run-heavy attack. He says he has added 15 pounds of muscle this offseason, which should bolster his blocking abilities without detracting from his receiving talents.
In 2018, the former Pittsburgh Pirates farmhand caught just 13 passes for 163 yards and a touchdown. Baltimore will be counting on a major improvement on those numbers in 2019.
Packers Did Not Make Offer To Randall Cobb
Randall Cobb, who signed with the Cowboys as a free agent in March after a long run with the Packers, appears to be feeling a bit resentful towards his old team. Cobb recently said during an interview with ESPN Wisconsin (h/t Jason Wilde of the Wisconsin State Journal), “It’s like the ex-girlfriend that broke up with you. When you see her five years later, you hope you’re in a better situation than you were before — married, with kids, and you’re able to say, ‘Yeah, I did better without you.'”
Despite a Green Bay tenure that saw him catch 517 passes for 6,120 yards and 46 touchdowns in 116 career games (including playoffs), and despite being a key figure in a number of memorable moments during that time, Cobb says the fact that the club never advanced to the Super Bowl while he was on the roster was a major disappointment, especially given how talented some of those rosters were. And he apparently wanted to come back to the Packers for another shot at helping to bring a championship to Title Town, but the interest was not mutual.
Cobb said the Packers never extended him an offer in free agency, and he even waited to see if Green Bay would change its mind after he started receiving offers from other teams, but that did not happen. So he ultimately accepted a one-year, $5MM pact to become the primary slot receiver for the Cowboys, who have lofty ambitions of their own in 2019.
The fact that Green Bay did not attempt to bring Cobb back is not terribly surprising, as he has dealt with a number of injuries since signing a four-year, $40MM contract with the club in March 2015, and he is clearly not the same player he was at the height of his career. He can still be serviceable, and the fact that the Packers are going into the season with Davante Adams and a host of mostly unproven talent at wide receiver may be irritating to him, but from an outsider’s perspective, it seems like the Packers may have made the right call.
Green Bay travels to Dallas on October 6, a date that Cobb surely has circled on his calendar.
Latest On Tyreek Hill’s Meeting With NFL
Details are emerging on Tyreek Hill‘s eight-hour interview with NFL Special Counsel for Investigations Lisa Friel, and multiple sources with knowledge of the situation tell Nate Taylor of The Athletic that the interview went very well for Hill.
Taylor says that most of the dialogue between Hill and Friel centered around the now infamous audio recording of a conversation between Hill and Crystal Espinal, the mother of Hill’s three-year-old son, that took place this spring. Taylor’s sources say that Hill was able to provide the league with a “massive amount of evidence” to support his claims that Espinal was the primary disciplinarian of their child and that she was the one who caused the boy’s injuries. The league requested full records from the Overland Park Police Department in March pertaining to the criminal investigation into Hill, but since the case involved a child, the PD denied access to those records.
Hill may be suspended for the threatening comments he made to Espinal in the audio recording, but at least one Chiefs official believes the suspension will be for a maximum of four games, and several team officials expect the league to announce its decision as soon as next month.
That would clear the way for Hill to participate in training camp, and we learned just yesterday that Hill is expected to join his teammates when camp opens next month. Indeed, once the league makes its decision, the Chiefs will lift their indefinite ban of Hill.
The NFL may now ask Hill to visit league headquarters to meet with Roger Goodell, but it currently sounds as though Hill will escape this ugly situation about as cleanly as he could have hoped.
West Notes: Hill, Wilson, Henderson
Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill had an eight-hour meeting with NFL Special Counsel for Investigations Lisa Friel yesterday, and while the league reportedly has no timetable for the conclusion of its investigation, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk suggests a decision should be coming sooner rather than later. In defending the delayed interview of former Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt, the league said that it waits to interview the player until the rest of its investigation has concluded, so since Hill has now been interviewed, it’s fair to assume that the process is drawing to a close. But NFL disciplinary matters never seem to go smoothly, and the league could say that Hill’s conversation with Hill requires follow-up work, so it may be awhile before Hill hears his fate.
Now for more from the league’s west divisions:
- Cardinals tight end Caleb Wilson, whom the club selected in the seventh round of this year’s draft, actually committed to play quarterback at Old Dominion. But he knew that his path to a pro career would not be as a QB, so he walked on as a tight end at USC and eventually transferred to UCLA. As a late-round draft choice, he needs to impress right away, and Kyle Odegard of the team’s official website says that Wilson is doing just that. New HC Kliff Kingsbury‘s spread offense emphasizes a TE’s receiving ability, and Kingsbury has praised Wilson’s route-running and hands. Wilson may be the fourth tight end on the depth chart right now, but it’s a fairly thin group, so he should have a chance to stick.
- Vinny Bonsignore and Rich Hammond of The Athletic discussed which of the Rams‘ rookies would have the most impact on the team’s fortunes this year, and both agree that third-round RB Darrell Henderson is likely to be that guy. Henderson, a running back from Memphis, was a collegiate stud in 2018, and while LA has been adamant that its selection of Henderson has nothing to do with Todd Gurley ‘s balky knee, it’s not difficult to envision Henderson being a key component of the Rams’ offense in 2019.
- Vic Tafur of The Athletic examines former Spring League standout Paul Butler‘s chocolate milk-fueled journey to the thick of the Raiders‘ TE depth chart, and though Butler still faces something of an uphill battle to make the club, he has a real shot. He performed well in OTAs and minicamp, and Oakland clearly thinks highly of him, as they promoted him from the practice squad late last year to prevent the Lions from poaching him. There are six TEs battling for four roster spots, but Butler’s blend of size and receiving ability give him a chance to make the 53-man roster.
- Today, we added two more entries to our Extension Candidate series: Rams CB Marcus Peters (link) and Seahawks LB Bobby Wagner (link).