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NFC Notes: R. Wilson, Gruden, Eli, Bennett

November 12th, 2017 at 11:14am CST by Rory Parks

Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, citing a source close to the situation, reports that the Seahawks violated the league’s concussion protocol by allowing quarterback Russell Wilson to reenter Thursday night’s game against Arizona without going to the locker room and being cleared by a team doctor and an independent physician. However, a league spokesman told ESPN that the NFL has not conducted any interviews yet, so it has not reached any conclusions. The NFL and NFLPA will jointly review the situation over the coming weeks.

If Seattle is determined to have violated the protocol, it could be fined up to $150K.

Now for more from the NFC:

Every year, it seems, we hear rumors concerning Jon Gruden‘s potential return to the sidelines as a head coach. With his former team, the Buccaneers, sputtering in 2017, and with Dirk Koetter looking less likely to return in 2018, Gruden-to-Tampa Bay rumors will only continue to pick up steam, as Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports writes. Gruden has mended his relationship with Bucs ownership and still lives about 10 minutes from the team facility, and a source close to him indicated it is possible that Gruden returns to the Bucs.
The Giants have no plans to bench Eli Manning, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com writes. Although their long-time signal-caller does not figure to be a part of any long-term rebuild, Rapoport says it would take a catastrophe for Big Blue to sit Manning down this season.
The Packers released Martellus Bennett with a Failure to Disclose a Physical Condition designation, alleging that Bennett failed to tell the team that he had a torn rotator cuff before he signed with the team this offseason. Bennett, of course, refutes that notion, but Green Bay intends to recoup the signing bonus it paid to Bennett, per Rapoport. Whether the Packers will seek the full $6.3MM bonus or the $4.2MM prorated portion is unclear, but they have over a month in which to file their grievance.
Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott, whose suspension was reinstated earlier this week, is leaving the country to clear his head and train in an undisclosed location, per Rapoport (via Twitter).

Seahawks QB Russell Wilson Reworks Contract

October 31st, 2017 at 12:04pm CST by Zachary Links

Russell Wilson is a team player. This week, the quarterback reworked his contract to accommodate the Seahawks’ acquisition of Duane Brown, according to Andrew Brandt of The MMQB (on Twitter).

Wilson, 29 in November, is midway through a four-year contract extension signed in July of 2015. By converting some of his current year salary into a bonus, he gave the Seahawks enough breathing room to give him the type of dominant left tackle he has been pushing for.

Wilson’s $87.6MM deal runs through the 2019 season. The QB carries a $14.626MM cap charge this year before it balloons to $23.8MM in 2018 and $25.3MM in 2019.

Despite a suspect offensive line, Wilson has thrown for more than 2,000 yards with 15 touchdowns against four interceptions in seven games. With some improved protection from Brown, Seattle’s offense could take another step forward in the second half.

NFC Notes: Lions, Shepard, Redskins, Wilson

October 14th, 2017 at 10:21am CST by Ben Levine

Recently appearing before a congressional subcommittee regarding brain injuries in football, former Lions linebacker DeAndre Levy said his former organization didn’t want him speaking about CTE.

“The moment I said anything about it, I had two calls telling me I shouldn’t talk about it,” Levy said (via Kyle Meinke of MLive.com). “I don’t know if it was because it was CTE, or if it was because it’s just the general NFL rule of, like, only football. Only talk about football, only think about football. I posted simply the research … and I was told not to talk about it the first day it was out. And I’m just, like, you know, it could have just been locker room culture. Nobody wants to talk about anything other than football. But it didn’t sit well with me when I’m talking about brain injuries.

“It’s my brain. It’s not my shoulder, it’s my brain. It controls everything I do, it controls everything we think, everything we feel. And if I don’t have the right to speak about that as a player, I think it really speaks about the culture of the NFL, of what those conversations are. I think that’s indicative of the conversations that we don’t hear. The closed-door conversations between owners. They still are trying to find ways to silence us.”

The Lions responded to their former player’s statement, saying “[w]e are aware of his comments and we strongly disagree with this claim that anyone from our organization tried to silence him.”

Levy, 30, spent his entire eight-year career in Detroit. After being named as a second-team All-Pro in 2014, the linebacker signed a lucrative extension with the organization. However, a hip, knee, and meniscus injury ultimately forced him to hang up his cleats, and he’s since spent his team advocating for CTE awareness.

“I don’t think the owners are in touch with it,” Levy said. “It’s a business. We’re a number. Our brains and bodies are disposable.”

Let’s check out some more notes from around the NFC…

Matthew Stafford is listed as questionable for tomorrow’s matchup against the Saints with an ankle injury, but ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweets that the Lions quarterback is expected to play. The 29-year-old is one pace for one of his most efficient NFL season, as he’s completed 64.2-percent of his pass attempts for 1116 yards, nine touchdowns, and only one interception.
The Giants placed three wideouts (Odell Beckham Jr., Brandon Marshall, and Dwayne Harris) on the injured reserve this past week, and it looks like they’ll be without another top receiver for at least this weekend. ESPN’s Jordan Raanan tweets that wideout Sterling Shepard is out for tomorrow’s contest in Denver. The former second-rounder has hauled in 22 receptions for 263 yards and one touchdown this season.
Back in 2012, the Redskins had selected quarterback Kirk Cousins in the fourth round despite using the second-overall pick on fellow quarterback Robert Griffin III. However, as former offensive coordinator (and current 49ers head coach) Kyle Shanahan explains, the team was actually eyeing another notable signal-caller with that fourth-round selection. “Actually, our goal was we were going to take Russell Wilson in the fourth round knowing what type of offense we were going to run, and we wanted to pair some guys with that, but he went before that,” Shanahan said (via Matt Barrows of The Sacramento Bee). “And we had Kirk ranked high. He was there in the fourth. He fell that far, so we thought it made a lot of sense for the organization.”

Extra Points: Seahawks, Lynch, Browns, Rice

June 3rd, 2017 at 11:59am CST by Ben Levine

While it doesn’t sound like the Seahawks are going to add quarterback Colin Kaepernick, starter Russell Wilson indicated that he’d welcome the former division rival.

“I haven’t had the chance to be around Colin too much, but the times I have he’s been great,” Wilson said (via Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com). “Obviously, I think first of all he’s a really, really good football player. He’s made a lot of good plays in a lot of big games and done a lot of good things. I have tons of respect for him in that way. And then in terms of everything else he stood for, I think he was trying to stand for the right things, he was trying to stand for equality. And so I respect that too, as well. . . . I wouldn’t have any issue at all. As many good players as we could have, the better.”

Reports indicated that the Seahawks weren’t going to sign Kaepernick because they believe he deserves a starting role, and there were whispers that the two sides also couldn’t agree on a monetary value for the quarterback. However, Florio wonders if Pete Carroll and the organization may be trying to avoid a controversy.

There have been murmurs that Wilson hasn’t received the full support of his teammates. If the Seahawks faced any adversity next year, Florio wonders if some members of the Seahawks would push for Kaepernick to take over the starting role.

Let’s check out some more notes from around the NFL…

According to ESPN.com’s Sheil Kapadia, Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch has several performance-based incentives in his contract that could add $5.5MM to his salary in 2017 and $2MM in 2018. As the writer explains, the running back could earn this extra money via incentives for “rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, the Raiders making the playoffs, Lynch making the Pro Bowl, Lynch earning regular-season MVP honors and Lynch earning Super Bowl MVP honors.”
The Browns acquistion of Calvin Pryor does provide some much-needed depth at safety, but ESPN.com’s Pat McManamon notes that the team is still “one player short of a starting unit at linebacker.” There have been whispers that the Browns could utilize Pryor and rookie Jabrill Peppers in a 4-2-5 alignment, with Jamie Collins and Christian Kirksey serving as the linebackers. However, before the team commits to this strategy, McManamon believes they have to determine whether Pryor is even capable of starting.
After having served as an unofficial coach for New Rochelle High School’s football team over the past three years, former Pro Bowler Ray Rice is now the squad’s official running backs coach, according to Josh Thomson of Lohud.com. The 30-year-old will also assist with the secondary, his defensive position during his time with the Huguenots. “Ray has been around so much that there’s more buzz when visiting teams see him and when visiting parents see him or when we’re out in public,” said coach Lou DiRienzo. “These kids are around him all the time. He’s Ray to them. A celebrity is not in their midst.”

Russell Wilson Would Be OK With Kaepernick Signing

May 16th, 2017 at 3:26pm CST by Zachary Links

The Seahawks have some interest in signing Colin Kaepernick and starter Russell Wilson will not stand in the way of a potential deal. Even though the two quarterbacks are former divisional rivals, Wilson would not have any sort of problem with the signing, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter links) hears.

Kaepernick and Wilson squared off a number of times in intra-divisional games, including the Seahawks’ victory over the Niners in the 2013 NFC Championship. If there was ever any real bad blood between the two QBs, however, it is water under the bridge now.

Signing Kaepernick could be somewhat polarizing for fans, but the Seahawks believe that he is the best backup option available, according to Rapoport. The Seahawks also looked into fellow former Niners QBs Blaine Gabbert and Christian Ponder, but they still see No. 7 as the No. 1 choice.

In regular season tilts against the Seahawks, Kaepernick went 2-6 in eight games. He completed just 55.61% of his passes and threw for only three TDs against seven interceptions.

Extra Points: Trades, Jets, Hawks, Bucs, Jags

October 27th, 2016 at 10:00pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The NFL trade deadline is on Tuesday, and we’ve already seen a pair of minor moves in the past week, as the Patriots acquired linebacker Kyle Van Noy from the Lions, and then shipped tight end A.J. Derby to the Broncos. More high-profile names could be on the move in the next few days, leading both Joel Corry of CBSSports.com and Albert Breer of TheMMQB.com to examine candidates to be traded before the deadline. Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall — who appeared on Breer’s list — is unlikely to be dealt, according to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News, especially because two general managers predicted New York would only garner a fifth- or sixth-round pick for the veteran pass-catcher.

Here’s more from around the NFL:

Russell Wilson has never missed a game during his NFL career, but a knee injury threatened to knock him out earlier this season, as Sheil Kapadia of ESPN.com details. Wilson told reporters today that he was originally told his knee issue would sideline him for as many as four weeks, but the Seahawks quarterback has opted to play through the injury. He’ll continue to do so, and will also battle a pectoral ailment as Seattle faces New Orleans on Sunday.
Buccaneers wide receiver Louis Murphy suffered a setback in his recovery from a November 2015 knee injury, and his timetable for return is currently unknown, writes Roy Cummings of Today’s Pigskin. Murphy, who joined Tampa Bay before the 2014 season and has managed 41 receptions since, has been on the PUP list the entire year. The Bucs could use a boost at receiver after placing veteran Vincent Jackson on injured reserve last week. They auditioned Nate Washington on Tuesday, and are reportedly willing to trade for a pass-catcher.
Although the Jaguars were interested in running back DeMarco Murray when he became a free agent in 2015, his price tag proved too costly for Jacksonville and Murray ended up signing with Philadelphia, as Hays Carlyon of Jacksonville.com recalls. “It was great,” Murray said of meeting with the Jags. “To this day, I always look back and wonder if I would’ve been a Jaguar because of Gus [Bradley]. I got a chance to basically meet him and learn about him in a week span. It was so hard for me to tell him no.”

Russell Wilson Has Sprained MCL

September 26th, 2016 at 1:08pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson has a sprained MCL, head coach Pete Carroll confirmed to 710 ESPN today (Twitter link via Sheil Kapadia of ESPN.com). However, Carroll says Wilson is “feeling great,” and he’s expected to be available against the Jets on Sunday, tweets Adam Schefter of ESPN.com.

Wilson has dealt with injury early and often this season, as he suffered an ankle injury during Week 1 that threatened to keep him out for several games. He was able to return for Week 2 against the Rams, but this latest knee ailment forced him to leave Sunday’s contest versus the 49ers. Before being sidelined, Wilson had played well, completing 15-of-23 passes for 243 yards and one touchdown. The Seahawks have a bye in Week 5, so If Wilson can make it through Sunday’s game, he’ll get an extra week of rest thereafter.

The only other quarterback on Seattle’s roster is rookie undrafted free agent Trevone Boykin, who was called into action on Sunday in relief of Wilson. In his first NFL appearance, the 23-year-old completed seven passes for 65 yards and one score. If Wilson, who began receiving treatment last night, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link), goes down again, Boykin will be asked to step up.

Wilson isn’t the only member of the Seahawks’ offense nursing an injury, as running back Thomas Rawls is set to miss several weeks with a hairline fracture in his fibula.

Latest On Russell Wilson’s Ankle

September 12th, 2016 at 6:04pm CST by Zachary Links

6:04pm: Carroll told reporters, including Condotta (Twitter link), that Wilson will practice on Wednesday and plans to suit up on Sunday against the Rams.

11:37am: It sounds like Seahawks fans can breathe easy. Coach Pete Carroll told 710 ESPN that Wilson’s injury isn’t “very serious” and added that “he’ll make it through,” indicating that he’ll suit up for Week 2 (Twitter links via Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times). Carroll added that the QB’s X-rays came back negative (link).

8:02am: After the Seahawks’ 12-10 victory over the Dolphins, quarterback Russell Wilson told reporters that he’ll be “ready to roll” next week against the Rams despite suffering an ankle sprain. Apparently, that’s not quite the case. Wilson’s sprain is “significant” and his Week 2 availability is in question, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). Whether or not Russell Wilson can go against Los Angeles on Sunday, the Seahawks are expected to pick up another veteran QB (Twitter link).

[RELATED: Latest On Marshawn Lynch]

As it stands, undrafted rookie Trevone Boykin is the only other quarterback on Seattle’s roster. Surprisingly, the Seahawks do not have a QB on the taxi squad either.

Wilson, 28 in November, has never missed a regular season game since entering the league in 2012. The Wisconsin product earned his third Pro Bowl selection in 2015 has he completed 68.1% of his passes and threw for 34 touchdowns against eight interceptions.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

NFC Notes: Seahawks, Thurmond, Giants

February 13th, 2016 at 9:44am CST by Ben Levine

Some assorted notes from around the NFC…

The 2016 base salaries for several Seahawks players will be guaranteed today, tweets Joel Corry of CBSSports.com. The list includes Richard Sherman ($12.569MM), Russell Wilson ($12.342MM), Cliff Avril ($6MM) and K.J. Wright ($5.25MM). $6MM of Earl Thomas‘ $8MM 2016 salary is also guaranteed today (via Corry).
The Eagles and free agent safety Walter Thurmond haven’t started discussions on an extension, tweets Geoff Mosher. The two sides are expected to start talking at the NFL Combine.
Jordan Raanan of NJ.com puts the Giants chance of retaining cornerback Prince Amukamara at “40 percent.” With the 26-year-old expected to fetch a contract of at least $10MM annually, Raanan isn’t convinced that the team is willing to spend at the position.
Raanan also believes the Giants should pursue Dolphins defensive end Olivier Vernon. The 25-year-old is younger than Mario Williams (who is expected to be released) and he’s more dependable than Jason Pierre-Paul.

NFC Notes: Cruz, Hayne, Wilson, Ramirez

November 20th, 2015 at 8:40pm CST by Luke Adams

Victor Cruz‘s uncertain future with the Giants received some press this month when he landed on injured reserve, ending his season, but he won’t be the only difficult roster decision facing the Giants in the offseason. As Bob Glauber of Newsday details, the team will also have tough calls to make on players like Jason Pierre-Paul, Prince Amukamara, and Jon Beason.

Here are some other notes from around the NFC:

Jarryd Hayne admitted today that he has received offers to return to Australia’s National Rugby League since he was moved from the 49ers‘ 53-man roster to their practice squad, but he’s committed to NFL, tweets Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee. The former rugby star saw some action earlier this season as a running back and return man for San Francisco.
Despite an up-and-down performance so far this season, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson says the lucrative new contract he signed prior to the season isn’t playing any part in his – or the team’s – struggles, as Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times writes. “People want to make it something else but for me I love the game of football and I love coming to work, I love getting here early and leaving late and that’s what it’s about,” Wilson said. “Nothing’s changed. The biggest thing is we’ve just got to find ways to win.”
Having been benched by the Lions, veteran guard Manny Ramirez is unlikely to reach several playing-time incentives in his contract, and he hopes that’s not the motive for his reduced role. “I hope not,” Ramirez said Thursday, per Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “But I can’t worry about that. I can only worry about the things that I’m in control of, which is, every time I step on the field, that I’m ready to go. That’s all I can do.”