Draft Notes: Rams, Jets, 49ers
When the Rams swapped quarterback Sam Bradford for Nick Foles, it was expected that the former Eagles signal-caller wouldn’t be the organization’s longterm answer at the position. So, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the Rams will work out both Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota next week, according to Albert Breer of the NFL Network (on Twitter).
Of course, the workouts aren’t a guarantee that the organization will select a quarterback. As Breer points out, the Rams brought in Johnny Manziel twice last year, but they ultimately decided against drafting the rookie.
Let’s take a look at where more of the draft’s top prospects will be visiting…
- Besides the top two prospects, Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says (via Twitter) the Rams have “shown varying degrees of interest” in quarterbacks Garrett Grayson, Brett Hundley, and Sean Mannion.
- Despite canceling their private workout with the quarterback, the Jets will bring in Jameis Winston for a visit, according to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News. Following the prospects impressive Pro Day, the organization decided they didn’t need to see much more.
- The Jets will bring in Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty for a pre-draft visit, reports Mehta (via Twitter). The former Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year won a pair of Big 12 Championships during his tenure with the Bears.
- Virginia outside linebacker Eli Harold will visit the Jets, tweets Brian Costello of the New York Post. Harold, who finished last season with seven sacks and 14.5 tackles for a loss, is project to be a late-first/early-second round pick.
- LSU cornerback Jalen Collins will pay a visit to the 49ers next week, according to Fox Sports’ Mike Garafolo (on Twitter). The reporter notes that Collins has about ten pre-draft visits scheduled, including workouts with the Vikings and Panthers.
Extra Points: Goodell, Raiders, JPP, Browns
On the same day the NFL announced that its owners have approved a new personal conduct policy for the league, Outside the Lines reporter Don Van Natta Jr. of ESPN.com has published a story suggesting commissioner Roger Goodell‘s testimony during Ray Rice‘s suspension appeal hearing was inconsistent with his public statements.
On September 10, Goodell wrote a memo to the league’s 32 owners in which he said that “on multiple occasions, we asked the proper law enforcement authorities to share with us all relevant information, including any video of the [Rice elevator] incident.” However, the 631-page transcript of Rice’s appeal hearing, a copy of which was obtained by Outside the Lines, suggests that the NFL never actually formally requested the elevator video from the one law enforcement agency that actually had it, the Atlantic City Police Department.
With Goodell and the NFL once again under scrutiny for questionable handling of investigative and disciplinary matters, let’s round up a few other notes from around the league:
- Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that the Raiders have “a much better chance” of moving to Los Angeles in 2015 than he had realized, adding that the possibility of the team relocating from Oakland to L.A. is “very legitimate.”
- While NFL teams rarely let their starting quarterbacks reach the open market, the early returns for the teams that locked their QBs up this year haven’t been good, writes Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead. The Bears (Jay Cutler), Bengals (Andy Dalton), Chiefs (Alex Smith), and 49ers (Colin Kaepernick) likely aren’t thrilled with the new deals for their respective signal-callers, considering all four teams project to finish with worse records in 2014 than 2013.
- Asked about his impending free agency, Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul said he’d “love to be a Giant for life,” but isn’t sure yet how things will play out (Twitter link via Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News).
- Although Browns kicker Billy Cundiff missed another key field goal on Sunday against the Colts, head coach Mike Pettine says Cundiff remains the team’s kicker, but “he knows he has to pick it up” (Twitter link via Jeff Schudel of the News-Herald).
- Adrian Peterson is still awaiting arbitrator Harold Henderson’s decision on his suspension appeal, and the Vikings running back continues to hold out hope that he’ll be able to return the field this season, NFLPA executive George Atallah tells Brian Murphy of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
- Oregon State quarterback Sean Mannion will be represented by Athletes First agents Andrew Kessler and Dave Dunn for the 2015 NFL draft, tweets Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Journal.