Sunday Roundup: Bills, L.A., Dalton, McClain
Among all the chaos surrounding Aaron Kromer in Buffalo, the Bills are more than likely going to be looking for a new offensive line coach for the upcoming season. Jason Cole of Bleacher Report is asked if the organization could convince former Bills offensive line coach Jim McNally out of retirement.
McNally spent 28 seasons as an NFL offensive line coach, retiring in 2007 after a four-year tenure in Buffalo. He semi-unretired in 2010 to serve as a consultant to the Jets under Rex Ryan for two years, before taking on a similar role with the Bengals, where he began and spent most of his NFL career.
Cole notes that at 71 years old, McNally isn’t a prime candidate for the job, but that he does have the background to make him an interesting option (via Twitter).
Here are some more notes from around the NFL:
- With all the excitement surrounding the possibility of a team coming to Los Angeles, Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times makes several predictions about what to expect in the coming months from the NFL regarding the potential move. Among them, he opines that San Diego and St. Louis will present their cases at the owners’ meeting in New York but Oakland will not, that the league will sign leases with one or two temporary stadiums by the end of the year, and that the NFL will begin counting potential season ticket holders this fall.
- Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton took some swings during the Legends and Celebrity Softball Game as part of All-Star Weekend in Cincinnati, but he arrived to a mix of boos and cheers among the hometown fans, writes Paul Dehner Jr. of Cincinnati.com. Dalton was not worried about the reaction, and went on to hit two mammoth home runs during the game, to which brought the cheers in the stadium, and plenty of snark from the Twitter faithful, many of which Dehner compiled in his piece.
- With linebacker Sean Lee set to return for the Cowboys and Rolando McClain suspended for the season’s first four games, Bob Strum of the Dallas Morning News says he wouldn’t assume McClain will stick with Dallas all year, suggesting the club may decide at some point that the off-field issues aren’t worth it.
- The Broncos have until Wednesday to reach a long-term deal with franchise player Demaryius Thomas, leading Benjamin Hochman and Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post to debate as to the receiver’s value. Noting that Denver has a limited Super Bowl window given Peyton Manning‘s age, the scribes agree that the club will want to work out an extension, ultimately landing on a five-year deal in the neighborhood of $65-70MM. PFR’s Luke Adams projected the exact same figures last June.
- Staying in Denver, Broncos general manager John Elway is still positive that the disappointing 2014 draft class will have a bigger impact, even with a brand new coaching staff, according to Jeff Legwold of ESPN.com. Only Bradley Roby saw significant snaps, with a number of the players selected not seeing any action at all. Second-round pick Cody Latimer saw only 37 snaps at receiver for the season, but the group should see significantly increased roles in 2015.
Luke Adams and Dallas Robinson contributed to this post.
Extra Points: Hardy, J. Houston, JPP, Levitre
Arbitrator Harold Henderson’s ruling to reduce Greg Hardy‘s suspension from 10 games to four contains little in the way of clear logic, opines Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. Instead of working off the old policy of a two-game ban for a domestic violence incident, or acknowledging that the new standard calls for a six-game suspension, Henderson did neither, per Florio, opting to seemingly create his own rule, simply stating that a ten games is “too much.” Had Henderson used the old statute as a basis for his decision, writes Florio, he would have had to explain how Hardy’s actions were twice as worse as those of Ray Rice, who was suspended two games after his domestic incident.
Here’s more from around the league…
- Assessing the status of the four unsigned franchise players, Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link) ranks them (most likely to least likely) work out a long-term deal with their respective club: Justin Houston, Dez Bryant, Demaryius Thomas, Jason Pierre-Paul. Cole gives JPP a zero percent chance of agreeing to an extension with the Giants given his injury concerns, but puts the chances of Houston reaching a deal with the Chiefs at 60%. Houston will discuss his contract with KC management this weekend.
- The four franchise-tagged players are among the NFL players who could stage holdouts during training camp in the coming weeks, according to Jason Fitzgerald of the Sporting News, who looks at some other situations where a holdout might occur. Eric Weddle, Michael Bennett, and his brother Martellus Bennett could all stay away from training camp unless their contract situation is resolved.
- Signed to a six-year. $46.8MM deal before the 2013 season, guard Andy Levitre has been a disappointment during his time with the Titans, but now that he feels completely healthy, he sees a turnaround on the horizon in 2015. “Knowing what I am capable of doing, and knowing I have done it in the past, I want to be able to get back to where I need to be to be successful,” Levitre told Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean. “And to have that personal accomplishment means more to me than anything, and I think that will show to the coaches and the guys upstairs.”
NFLPA Looking Into Cowboys, Broncos
7:15pm: Suspicions in the matter stew from both the Cowboys and the Broncos refusing to use Calvin Johnson‘s contract with the Lions as a comparable during negotiations with Bryant and Thomas, respectively, a source tells Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. That seems a little odd, as the total value of Johnson’s contract is nearly twice that of Mike Wallace, the second-highest paid receiver, and as Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap tweets, Megatron’s deal has always been viewed as an outlier. Nevertheless, Florio reports that the NFLPA believe it has reliable information that the two clubs involved “have been communicating to set, control, or manipulate the [receiver] market.”
Meanwhile, the Broncos say they have not been contacted by the NFLPA regarding this issue, according to Troy Renck of the Denver Post.
5:48pm: Asked about the NFLPA’s investigation, a Cowboys source tells Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Telegram (Twitter link) there’s “nothing to it.” That’s what you’d expect to hear from a team source, though I wouldn’t be surprised if that turns out to indeed be the case.
3:59pm: With five days left for franchised players to negotiate multiyear contract agreements with their current teams, only two of the four unsigned franchise-tag recipients play the same position: Demaryius Thomas and Dez Bryant. According to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, the NFL Players Association is reviewing information to determine whether the Broncos and Cowboys have colluded in regard to contract talks for their two star receivers.
Per Schefter, the NFLPA believes the Broncos and Cowboys were in contact about Thomas’ and Bryant’s contract situations, despite the fact that the the league’s collective bargaining agreement prohibits such contact. The NFLPA is investigating the situation to determine whether or not collusion did in fact occur, and when to potentially file a claim.
July 15 is the deadline for franchised players to sign long-term extensions with their teams — if no agreement is reached by that date, a player who received the franchise tag will have to play on a one-year deal in 2015, if he intends to play at all. Given the relatively similar statistical production posted by Bryant and Thomas – as well as Bengals wideout A.J. Green and Falcons receiver Julio Jones, who are playing on fifth-year options this year – there’s been a sense that everyone is waiting for one team to extend its star receiver to establish the market.
Of course, if one team were to lock up its receiver to a lucrative new extension that exceeds his expected worth, it could adversely affect negotiations for other teams locking to lock up their own wideouts, driving up the price. As such, it makes sense that the Cowboys and Broncos might want to discuss the situation with one another, though Schefter’s report doesn’t suggest there’s any hard evidence that happened.
Largest 2015 Cap Hits By Team: AFC West
Before NFL training camps get underway later this month, we’re taking a closer look at the top 2015 cap hits for teams around the league. We began our series in June by focusing on the NFC East and AFC East divisions, before looking at the NFC North, AFC North, and NFC South last week. Earlier this week, we recapped the AFC South and NFC West, and today we’ll wrap up our series by concluding with the AFC West.
Listed below are the top 10 cap hits for the coming season for each of the four AFC West franchises, accompanied by some observations on the spending habits of those clubs. Let’s dive in….
Denver Broncos:
- Peyton Manning, QB: $17,500,000
- Demaryius Thomas, WR: $12,823,000
- Von Miller, OLB: $9,754,000
- DeMarcus Ware, OLB: $8,666,666
- T.J. Ward, S: $7,750,000
- Aqib Talib, CB: $6,968,750
- Louis Vasquez, G: $6,250,000
- Emmanuel Sanders, WR: $5,850,000
- Britton Colquitt, P: $3,750,000
- Chris Harris, CB: $3,000,000
Total: $82,312,416
The top three contracts on the Broncos’ list are all ones worth keeping an eye on. Manning’s cap number for 2015 was adjusted earlier in the offseason, bringing it down from $21.5MM, while Thomas and Miller are both candidates for extensions. Thomas’ figure is based on the franchise tag and Miller’s is based on the fifth-year option — presumably, the team would like to lock up at least one of those two players to a long-term contract this offseason to avoid having to decide between them for the franchise tag in 2016.
Elsewhere on the list, Sanders and Harris look like two of the NFL’s best bargains. Harris’ cap hit will jump to $9MM in 2016, but based on what Byron Maxwell received on the open market this winter, that still looks like a very fair price for one of the top cornerbacks in the league. As for Sanders, his cap charge continues to be very affordable next year, at just $6MM.
One name that jumps out on this list is Colquitt, who is a solid but unspectacular punter, ranking 23rd in net average last year. It looks like the team will probably carry him this year, but when his cap hit increases to $4MM in 2016, with just $750K in dead money, it may be time to bring in some legitimate competition at the position.
Kansas City Chiefs:
- Alex Smith, QB: $15,600,000
- Justin Houston, OLB: $13,195,000
- Dwayne Bowe, WR: $8,894,118 (dead money)
- Eric Berry, S: $8,357,700
- Jamaal Charles, RB: $7,970,835
- Sean Smith, CB: $7,750,000
- Eric Fisher, LT: $6,051,954
- Derrick Johnson, LB: $5,250,000
- Tamba Hali, OLB: $4,964,706
- Chase Daniel, QB: $4,800,000
Total: $82,834,313
Like the Broncos, the Chiefs have a franchise player near the top of their list of cap numbers, so if Houston reaches a long-term agreement with the club within the next few days, his number could be reduced.
Still, there are some unexpected names here for Kansas City — Bowe, for instance, will be playing in Cleveland this season while he continues to count for nearly $9MM against the Chiefs’ cap. It’s also not clear if Berry will be able to return to the field in 2015, though obviously his recovery from lymphoma is more important than any cap considerations.
When I looked at the NFC West earlier this week, I observed that the Cardinals were one of the league’s only teams with two quarterbacks amongst their top 10 cap charges. Kansas City is the other club to have that honor, and it’s somewhat surprising that Daniel’s contract hasn’t been addressed. The Chiefs clearly value him highly, having made him one of the NFL’s highest-paid backups, despite the fact that he has only thrown 75 passes in his career.
Oakland Raiders:
- Rodney Hudson, C: $13,000,000
- Dan Williams, DT: $8,000,000
- Nate Allen, S: $7,000,000
- Tyvon Branch, S: $6,671,000 (dead money)
- Curtis Lofton, LB: $6,500,000
- Austin Howard, RT: $6,400,000
- Donald Penn, LT: $5,400,000
- Justin Tuck, DE: $4,968,750
- Khalil Mack, OLB: $4,244,773
- Charles Woodson, S: $4,200,000
Total: $66,384,523
The Raiders entered the offseason with a boatload of cap room to use, and they took advantage by lavishing lucrative contracts onto a handful of free agents who may not have been entirely deserving of such big annual salaries.
Still, it’s worth pointing out that the figures here for Hudson, Williams, Allen, and Lofton aren’t quite representative of their per-year salaries — all four players will see their cap numbers decrease in future seasons, with Hudson dipping most drastically between 2015 and 2016, from $13MM to $7.7MM. The contracts themselves may not turn out to be smart investments, but Oakland was smart to allocate larger cap hits to 2015, when the team had cap space to burn.
The Raiders, like a handful of other teams we’ve examined so far, benefit from not having to spend big yet on their young quarterback, but the club’s spending habits at other positions are a little unusual. While most teams would invest most heavily in players on the outside – left tackles, edge rushers, wide receivers, and cornerbacks – the Raiders’ top 2015 cap hits are all for up-the-middle players, including a center, defensive tackle, safety, and inside linebacker.
San Diego Chargers:
- Philip Rivers, QB: $17,416,668
- Eric Weddle, S: $10,100,000
- Antonio Gates, TE: $9,762,500
- Corey Liuget, DT: $7,977,000
- Donald Butler, LB: $5,480,000
- Malcom Floyd, WR: $4,716,668
- Orlando Franklin, G: $4,400,000
- Mike Scifres, P: $4,347,500
- Brandon Flowers, CB: $4,250,000
- King Dunlap, LT: $4,125,000
Total: $72,575,336
The Chargers’ top 10 cap numbers for 2015 are made up nearly entirely of players who are entering the final year of their respective contracts and players who just signed new contracts with the club this offseason. Only Butler, who signed an extension in 2014, and Scifres, who is under contract for 2016, don’t meet this criteria.
Of the longtime Chargers entering the final year of their contracts, Rivers appears to have the best chance of reaching a long-term extension that would affect his cap number for 2015. Talks between the Chargers and Weddle haven’t gone well, Gates is facing a four-game suspension, and Floyd has talked about the possibility of retiring after the coming season.
As for the recently signed players, Liuget, Flowers, and Dunlap re-upped with San Diego this offseason, with Flowers and Dunlap narrowly avoiding reaching the open market, while Franklin was poached from the division-rival Broncos. All four players will see their cap numbers rise after this season, going from a combined $20.752 in 2015 to a total of $33.275 in 2016.
Information from Over the Cap was used in the creation of this post.
West Notes: Okung, Wilson, Broncos
Las Vegas has the Chargers as a longshot to win the Super Bowl and one popular gambling site has the Bolts at 50-1. Nick Canepa of The San Diego Union-Tribune says he isn’t a gambling man, but if he were, that’s a wager he would take. Canepa doesn’t expect the possibility of a relocation to affect the locker room and he also notes that the Chargers have won without the services of Antonio Gates, who will be suspended for the first month of the season. Here’s more from the AFC and NFC West..
- Seahawks fans are intensely focused on Russell Wilson‘s contract situation, but the future of tackle Russell Okung is also uncertain at this time, as Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times writes in his latest mailbag. Okung, a first-round choice in 2010, is entering the final season of his original six-year, $48.5MM pact. So far, there has been no indication that the Seahawks are working on a new deal, meaning that it will probably wait until after the 2015 season. Okung, 28 in October, has struggled to stay healthy over the course of his career, missing 21 games in total. Last year, Pro Football Focus (sub. req’d) was less than enamored with Okung’s play, giving him a slightly below average grade of -1.5.
- Earlier today, Wilson conducted a Q&A at The Rock Church in California (YouTube link) and fielded a wide range of questions, including one pertaining to the possibility of playing baseball. When asked which sport he prefers, the Seahawks quarterback simply replied, “Both.” When asked if he will ever play both, Wilson responded: “I have no idea..I believe if anybody could do it, I could. And I believe God’s put me…gave me the ability to do it. I’ve done it my whole life.”
- Six Broncos players who have started games for the team are poised for unrestricted free agency at season’s end, as Jeff Legwold of ESPN.com notes. That list includes Pro Bowl linebacker Von Miller, who was John Elway’s first selection on the job when he was taken No. 2 overall in the 2011 draft. 2013 was a struggle for Miller, beginning with a six-game suspension for attempting to cheat a drug test and ending with a torn ACL that ended his year early. However, advanced metrics suggested that Miller was far and away the best 4-3 outside linebacker in the league, even in that down year. In 2014, Pro Football Focus (subscription required) rated Miller as the No. 2 4-3 OLB in the league, right behind Oakland standout Khalil Mack. Back in November, PFR’s Luke Adams evaluated Miller as an extension candidate.
AFC West Notes: Richardson, Thomas, San Diego
New Raiders offensive line coach Mike Tice is very optimistic about the running game in 2015, and had nice things to say about all three of his top running backs, including the much-maligned Trent Richardson on his third NFL stop, according to Raiders.com. Latavius Murray and Richardson are pencilled in for large roles in the offense.
“Each one has their own style. I like the Murray kid. He really came on in that veteran mini-camp. He got his legs under him and showed some quickness, some good finish,” said Tice on SiruisXM NFL Radio. “I thought the young man out of Alabama came on. He lost some weight, his quickness came around.”
In addition to Murray and Richardson, Tice also had a glowing review of Roy Helu Jr..
“And then the young man we picked up out of Washington, a local boy out of San Ramon, I think he had an outstanding offseason and he shows good quickness, good awareness,” said Tice. “I think the nice thing about the kid out of Washington…is that he has nice hands out of the backfield – he can catch the football.”
Here are some more stories from around the AFC West:
- The Raiders are finally giving focus to developing their young defensive backs, writes Steve Corkan of RaidersBeat.com (via Facebook). The team is no longer trying to find short-term solutions in modestly-priced veterans, and is prepared to hand the backend of the defense to D.J. Hayden, T.J. Carrie, and Keith McGill.
- The Broncos and Demaryius Thomas are still far apart on a long-term contract, and Troy Renck of the Denver Post is having trouble seeing how the two sides come together on an agreement. He writes that $40MM guaranteed is the low number on what Thomas needs based on his value, but he writes the Broncos can’t meet that number, and might be better off leasing him with the franchise tag this season and again next season before moving on to a run-first offense with a strong defense under head coach Gary Kubiak.
- While fans and pundits are waiting for an announcement on which teams will be torn away from their current cities to move to Los Angeles, Dan McSwain of the U-T San Diego writes that the city of San Diego might be better if the Chargers leave. He writes that the public funding for a new stadium would hurt the local economy, and the people of San Diego would be fortunate if the team left for L.A. instead of putting that burden on them.
Sunday Roundup: Borland, Saints, Mariota
Chris Borland surprised the football world when he announced his retirement in March on the heels of a promising rookie campaign. Perhaps even more surprising was that he agreed to return three-quarters of his signing bonus to the 49ers, a sum of over $460,000. Speaking at the 2015 Legends of Wisconsin Golf Classic last week, Borland was asked about his decisions and emphasized that his choice to retire was motivated by health concerns. As Jeff Potrykus of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes, Borland said he decided to walk away based on “a combination of my own experience, along with a lot of data that is out there regarding long-term health effects of head injuries. And I play a position and a style of play where I was susceptible to the worst of it. I played a physical brand of football and played through some things where it makes sense for me.”
When asked about why he returned a large portion of the signing bonus, Borland said simply, “I signed a contract. I was living by the contract.” As for his future plans, Borland said a trip to Europe is next on his agenda, but otherwise, “I’ve got a few pretty decent options. I’m not going to hurry up and start a career. I’m going to take my time.”
Now for a few more links from around the league:
- We cited this mailbag from ESPN.com’s Mike Triplett yesterday to provide a surprising stat on Drew Brees, but it also made sense to pass along Triplett’s thoughts on the Saints‘ cornerback situation. Triplett writes that the top four spots are probably reserved for Keenan Lewis, Brandon Browner, P.J. Williams, and Damian Swann. After that, he sees Delvin Breaux and Stanley Jean-Baptiste as the frontrunners for what may be the final two cornerback openings on the roster, leaving veterans Kyle Wilson, Terrence Frederick, and Brian Dixon on the outside.
- Paul Kuharsky of ESPN.com thinks Marcus Mariota is determined to be present at Titans training camp, though it is possible his agents could convince him to stay away. The holdup in the team’s contract negotiations with its potential quarterback of the future is offset language, and Kuharsky writes that GM Ruston Webster simply needs to get Mariota to camp, either by convincing him the Titans are not going to move off their offset philosophy or by coming off their offset philosophy.
- Mary Kay Cabot of The Cleveland Plain Dealer believes the Browns are pretty pleased with their current tight end situation, and she does not foresee the team adding to its TE corps. She also says Cleveland is hopeful that one of its talented young running backs will ultimately separate himself from the pack, but that the Browns will distribute the rushing duties fairly evenly to open the season.
- Mike Klis of 9News.com examines the impact newly-acquired safety Darian Stewart will have on the Broncos and whether the former Ram and Raven will represent an upgrade over Rahim Moore, who departed in free agency.
Dez Bryant Rumors: Sunday
D-Day, the July 15 deadline for the Cowboys and Dez Bryant to work out a multiyear extension, is rapidly approaching. There are a few notes to pass along on those negotiations this morning, and we will update this post throughout the course of the day should there be any further developments.
- We learned yesterday that the Cowboys and Bryant have a good chance of finalizing a long-term agreement sometime this week, with Mike Fisher of 105.3 The Fan reporting that while the two sides agreed to break off contract talks over the holiday weekend, the announcement of a new deal could come as early as Monday. However, Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (Twitter link) hears that owner Jerry Jones and son Stephen Jones will be out of the country until July 10 or 11, which could hold up the deal until next week.
- Fisher also wrote that Dallas has “maybe” offered a seven-year, $100MM deal, though he doesn’t specify what the guaranteed money in such a deal would be. As Cole tweets, that would be a pretty favorable structure for the Cowboys, given that Calvin Johnson landed a seven-year, $113MM contract from Detroit in 2012. Of course, Cole points out (via Twitter) that Johnson’s $48MM worth of guarantees is the watermark that Bryant’s camp may be more interested in.
- Demaryius Thomas is doubtlessly keeping a close eye on the Bryant negotiations, and Troy Renck of The Denver Post wonders (Twitter link) if Bryant can get $36-40MM in guaranteed money from the Cowboys. If so, Thomas will have a clear target in his own contract talks.
Extra Points: Battle, Broncos, Saints, Jags
There is a strong chance that former Clemson offensive tackle Isaiah Battle will be taken in Thursday’s supplemental draft, which allows NFL clubs to select players who for some reason (academic trouble or disciplinary issues are a couple of examples) were unable to enter the standard draft. If a team does choose Battle, it should be the Eagles, Jets or Giants, opines Mark Eckel of the Star-Ledger.
Battle – who is in need of further seasoning – could learn behind established tackles in the Eagles’ Jason Peters or the Jets’ D’Brickashaw Ferguson before eventually taking over for either, writes Eckel. Meanwhile the Giants have two recent first-round tackles in Justin Pugh and Ereck Flowers, but Eckel believes they’d be wise to follow the example of NFC East rival Dallas and try to stock up even more along the O-line.
Landing Battle would likely cost any of the above teams a third-round pick, per Eckel, with the Falcons ahead of them in the draft order. Atlanta is the leading candidate to pick the 22-year-old, on whom it could use a fourth-rounder.
More from around the league:
- Broncos running back C.J. Anderson burst on the scene in 2014, his second season, with nearly 1,200 total yards (849 rushing, 324 receiving) and eight touchdowns in his first true taste of NFL playing time. Anderson enters this season as Denver’s starting back, but Mike Kils of 9News writes that the 24-year-old isn’t resting on his laurels. “I’m going to keep my head down, keep grinding every day and keep pushing. What happened last year, happened last year. That’s completely over and done with,” said Anderson, who will try to fend off Montee Ball and Ronnie Hillman for reps.
- Saints rookie quarterback Garrett Grayson is glad he ended up in New Orleans to serve as Drew Brees‘ apprentice, though the third-round pick from Colorado State also would’ve been happy if the Cowboys or Broncos selected him. “There were three teams that I said I’d love to end up at, and that was the Saints, Cowboys and Broncos,” Grayson told NFL.com, per Christopher Dabe of NOLA.com. “They’ve all got older QBs. Two of them are first-ballot Hall-of-Famers.”
- Speaking of Brees, the 14-year veteran’s arm hasn’t shown any real signs of decline, ESPN’s Mike Triplett writes. According to Triplett, Brees attempted 35 throws of 40-plus yards from 2009-11 and completed only seven for 356 yards, three touchdowns and five interceptions. Compare that to 2012-14, when Brees went a far better 15-of-35 for 773 yards, seven scores and no picks, and it’s obvious the 36-year-old can still get the ball downfield. That said, in 2014 Brees did put up his lowest yardage and TD totals since 2007 on throws that traveled 20-plus yards, Triplett notes.
- Although new Jaguars offensive coordinator Greg Olson is tasked with helping turn around a unit that finished last in points and second last in yardage a year ago, he’s encouraged with the results so far. “Actually, it’s gone a little bit better than I hoped,” Olson said after minicamp, according to Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union. “It’s a really intelligent football team from position to position and that’s made the transition much smoother for them and me.” For what it’s worth, the Olson-led Raiders were the only team to amass fewer yards than the Jaguars last season, and they managed a mere 15.8 points per game compared to the Jags’ 15.6.
West Notes: Wilson, 49ers, Raiders, Thomas
As the NFL world awaits the outcome of the Seahawks/Russell Wilson extension negotiations, the quarterback sat down with ESPN.com’s Marty Smith to discuss the offseason.
Among the topics of discussion, of course, was Wilson’s contract situation. As he previously stated, the former Super Bowl champion isn’t concerned about money:
“Ultimately, it comes down to the play. Let my play speak for itself and let the rest take care of itself. Continue to love the game for what it is and continue to fight no matter how much I’m getting paid, whether it’s $25 million or $1.5 million. I’ll be ready to go.”
Wilson also seemed to squash any doubt about his relationship with the Seahawks, saying the two sides don’t have “a bad relationship by any means.”
Let’s take a look at some more notes from the NFL’s western divisions…
- ESPN.com’s Nick Wagoner compares the 49ers signing of head coach Jim Tomsula to the Rams 2006 signing of Scott Linehan. The Rams had opted for a completely different personality following the firing of Mike Martz, and Wagoner believes the 49ers are doing the same thing following the firing of Jim Harbaugh. Linehan ended up coaching two-plus seasons in St.Louis, compiling an 11-25 record.
- Hope for a Raiders stadium in Oakland is “dim,” according to ESPN.com’s Bill Williamson (via Twitter). Meanwhile, the writer says the proposal for a stadium in Carson “continues to have steam.”
- In an interview on Broncos.com, 9 News’ Mike Klis says Broncos wideout Demaryius Thomas will play for the team in week one, but how he gets there remains a mystery. Klis believes that a contract will be finalized prior to the July 15th deadline, but he also notes that the franchise tag isn’t necessarily a bad deal for Thomas.