The Pittsburgh Steelers learned on Tuesday that running back Le'Veon Bell will be back on the field one game sooner than they thought after the NFL reduced his suspension to two games.
While they're happy the team will have him in the lineup for that extra game after a banner year in 2014, Steelers G.M. Kevin Colbert reiterated the club's disappointment in his behavior.
"As I have stated before, we were disappointed in Le'Veon Bell's actions last August," he said in an official statement on the team's website.
"Le'Veon made a mistake and now he must learn from his mistake and focus on eliminating distractions from his life. We look forward to continuing to work with Le'Veon to try to help him reach his full potential as a person and as a player."
Bell was arrested with former teammate LaGarrette Blount last August when he was found in possession of marijuana on a traffic stop in suburban Pittsburgh. Blount, now with the Patriots, is suspended for one game.
Bell carried for eight touchdowns on 1,361 yards last season and will be able to participate in all offseason activities and preseason games with the Steelers before returning in Week 3.
@MrJamesParks
On the same day that saw the NFL bring and keep the hammer down on Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's four-game suspension for the "more probable than not" saga of DeflateGate, they took a somewhat kinder stance with another one of their own.
The NFL reduced Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell's former three-game ban down to two for his violation of their substance abuse policy following his arrest last summer for possession of marijuana.
Bell was suspended in April for that episode and placed on a 15-month probation. Running back LaGarrette Blount was with Bell at the scene when the two were teammates in Pittsburgh. Now with the Patriots, his one-game suspension still stands.
Bell had a banner year in 2014 out of the Steelers' backfield, rushing for 1,361 yards and eight touchdowns in 16 starts, including a 200 yard performance at the Titans in a Monday night clash.
Pittsburgh travels to New England to face the Brady-less Patriots on the NFL's opening night Sept. 10.
@MrJamesParks
NEW YORK - The name and face of the national game will officially miss the first quarter of the coming regular season.
The NFL announced they will uphold the four game suspension of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady relating to his alleged involvement in the "DeflateGate" controversy, the league announced on Tuesday.
Brady will lose about $2 million in salary as New England opens the regular season hosting the Steelers, visiting the Bills, against the Jaguars, and at the Cowboys. He will be eligible to return to the field in Week 6 at the Indianapolis Colts.
The decision comes more than six months after the Patriots were accused of playing with underinflated footballs in January's AFC Championship Game against the Colts before claiming the Super Bowl the following month.
The NFL commissioned attorney Ted Wells to investigate into the matter, eventually publishing in its findings that Tom Brady was "generally aware" of a scheme to take air from footballs used in competition last season.
The NFL Players Association has said publicly they will challenge the ruling in court should the four-game ban be upheld.
A turning point in the proceedings came when the NFL learned that Brady may have destroyed his cell phone to keep the league from acquiring what they feel were damning text messages between he and Patriots equipment managers in relation to the alleged scheme.
"On or shortly before March 6, the day that Tom Brady met with independent investigator Ted Wells and his colleagues," the league's statement reads, "Brady directed that the cell phone he had used for the prior four months be destroyed.
"He did so even though he was aware that the investigators had requested access to text messages and other electronic information that had been stored on that phone. During the four months that the cell phone was in use, Brady had exchanged nearly 10,000 text messages, none of which can now be retrieved from that device.
"The destruction of the cell phone was not disclosed until June 18, almost four months after the investigators had first sought electronic information."
That new development was the closest thing Goodell and the NFL had to an admission of guilt to keep the suspension in tact. Until June 18, the league admittedly had little convincing proof to act on.
"The commissioner found that Brady's deliberate destruction of potentially relevant evidence went beyond a mere failure to cooperate in the investigation and supported a finding that he had sought to hide evidence of his own participation in the underlying scheme to alter the footballs."
@MrJamesParks
Chip Kelly is a man who goes through quarterbacks.
Heading into his third season as the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, Kelly will be announcing his third starting quarterback to lead his program to the promised land.
Michael Vick started, got injured, then was gone. Nick Foles started, got injured, then was gone. This time around, it's down to Sam Bradford and Mark Sanchez.
Who, according to Chip Kelly, are still in a squabble for the job heading into training camp.
"I think it's always an open competition," he said in June. "You still have to go out and earn your jobs. If Sam throws 14 interceptions and Mark throws 14 touchdowns [this preseason] I can't sit there and tell the team that Sam's going to start and Mark's not going to start. It doesn't work that way."
The Eagles find themselves in a perplexing position. They traded Foles for Bradford and will pay him $13 million, which isn't backup quarterback money. But in Mark Sanchez, they have a guy who started half a season and played more or less well, and who has a whole season of familiarity with the team's playbook and culture.
And who took all the No. 1 snaps in OTAs and minicamp while the presumed No. 1, Bradford, played over in the corner with his knee brace.
Despite that twice-torn ACL, Bradford says he is ready to go for training camp when it begins bright and early next month. But he'll be pressed for time -- little more than four weeks -- to acquaint himself with all those things Sanchez is a year into. He's been relatively quiet through the process while Sanchez has been the picture of leadership.
For some, it looks like the presumed backup is taking things more seriously than the presumed starter.
It was Sanchez who scheduled a private workout in California with teammates, including Jordan Matthews and Zach Ertz. It was Sanchez who threw the precise passes with the first-teamers this spring. It was Sanchez who has been healthy and kept himself that way.
It didn't go unnoticed.
"I think Mark's been outstanding in the offseason," Kelly said. "I think he's been fantastic in the offseason."
It was Sanchez, too, who engineered a 4-4 stretch in eight games with little notice after Nick Foles had his shoulder sat on in Houston. And walked away with the best completion percentage of his career (64.1 pct).
"I'm honestly not worried about it," Sanchez said about the competition. "I know I can play.
"I know I can play in this system. I felt like -- I've said it all offseason -- I left some big-time plays out there [in 2014], some throws that I can make in my sleep out there.
"A couple decisions here, one throw there, and like I said we'd be having a whole different conversation right now. I know I can do it. I feel like I'm showing it on the field now. If it's a competition, the best player is going to play."
But the reality is very simple. With what the Eagles sacrificed to get Sam Bradford (including a first-round pick in 2016), they have every intention of starting him and preparing him for the No. 1 job. But it's as close a situation as any in pro football, with as little difference in skill or competence between the two as any other pairing in the NFL.
That similarity, plus the entirely realistic assumption that Sam Bradford finds himself injured at some point in the near future, puts Mark Sanchez back in the gameplan.
But with the job still technically open, Chip Kelly insists the job belongs to "whoever's the best quarterback to give us a chance to win our first game."
@MrJamesParks
The Dallas Cowboys will be another running back short when they report for training camp this summer.
The team waived Ryan Williams on Tuesday, ending his tenure with the franchise that failed to produce a single regular season snap out of their backfield.
Todd Archer of ESPN reported Williams had knee surgery after the team's minicamp in June, a proposition that limited his chances of joining the club considerably.
Injury had been a concern for Williams since the day the Cardinals drafted him out of the second-round in the 2011 NFL Draft, rupturing a patellar tendon in the first rush of his career, a preseason game against the Packers that August.
The new opening creates another stir around the Cowboys' rushing situation, created since DeMarco Murray left for the Eagles this March. Dallas insists they're happy with Darren McFadden, Murray's replacement, with Joseph Randle and Lance Dunbar behind him.
But with Chris Johnson, and now Ray Rice, making their names known ahead of training camp, that situation could change.
@MrJamesParks
Knowing Chip Kelly's style of play calling, the more speedsters and ball handlers on the offensive side of the football, the better.
Pristine pass catching has been the name of the Eagles' game in the two years Kelly has been patrolling the sidelines. Last season, Philadelphia posted the fifth-best offense in football and the year before was No. 2.
Quick passing and precise downfield blocking key such a system, and that calls for the unique combination of abilities of one certain position: tight end.
Which, in recent years, has been Brent Celek. Plucked in the fifth round of the 2007 NFL Draft, Celek had his best performance two seasons later: 76 receptions for 971 yards and eight touchdowns that placed him in the top-four at his position that year.
Celek showed not only his versatility but teamsmanship last season when, after the Eagles' offensive line befell a raft of injuries, he willingly took a major hit to his receiving numbers to aid in the team's blocking scheme. There was talk even that he nearly became a sixth offensive lineman himself.
This season, with an injury-prone quarterback and the acquisition of a talented backfield, the Eagles will be looking to a more run-based system. Which means the tight end position will become more important.
Zach Ertz emerged as a threat in 2014, catching three touchdowns on 702 yards in an excellent second season, and with the positive attention he'll bring into training camp next month, it's been easy to forget about Celek. Except if you're Chip Kelly.
"Brent Celek is doing a hell of a job," Kelly said this offseason. "It would be an injustice to tell Brent he has to sit because we want to put someone else in the game."
While Ertz will likely acquire the numbers, and consequently the attention, Celek's role nowadays is more to do with quality than quantity.
That extra blocking he had to do last season gave him the opportunity to improve in his fundamentals in that department. He's been consistently strong and adept at creating running lanes for tailbacks and receivers on screen plays. But, with those two years left on his current deal, the important aspect of his work will involve offering an example for Ertz, who will inevitably take his place someday on this roster.
@MrJamesParks
There's been little question surrounding the quarterback position for the Cleveland Browns this offseason as the team started veteran Josh McCown, signed this February to supercede Johnny Manziel, at all the important reps at OTAs and minicamp.
Despite that, the presumed twenty-fifth man to start under center for this franchise since 1999 just might not start.
The same day head coach Mike Pettine didn't entirely rule out Terrelle Pryor, recently converted to wide receiver as he starts his NFL career over again, starting at the position, he also left the door open for recently rehabbed Manziel to snag the job.
"I don't think anything's changed," Pettine said, via ESPN. "The repetitions will be handled that way with Josh as the [No. 1]. I wouldn't say I'm guaranteeing today that Josh McCown is going to be the starter against the Jets. A lot can happen in preseason."
The scowls and shock that followed that statment encouraged Pettine to reiterate McCown's primacy as it stands going into training camp.
"From an experience standpoint, he [McCown] is that much further ahead," Pettine said.
Manziel has been working out this offseason with former NFL coach and current "Monday Night Football" commentator Jon Gruden. Mike Pettine admired that work ethic from his second-year player, calling it "nothing put a positive." But it would be hard to imagine any circumstance that finds Manziel completing passes for the Browns when the season begins.
But if McCown throws his fourth interception on Day 1, it's anyone's guess.
@MrJamesParks
One of the best to anchor the New York Giants' defense in recent years is walking away from the game for good.
Osi Umenyiora will sign a one-day ceremonial contract with the Giants before retiring from pro football as a member of that organization, according to multiple reports.
Umenyiora spent the last two seasons with the Atlanta Falcons on a two-year deal that expired in March, leaving him a free agent.
He tallied 2.5 sacks and 12 tackles in 16 games last season with Atlanta, also recovering a fumble for a touchdown. But 2014 was also his first outing as a pro since his rookie season that he did not record at least six sacks.
Umenyiora was a key part of the Giants' recent run of two Super Bowls in his nine years with the franchise. He also was listed to the Pro Bowl twice, compiling 435 career tackles, 85 sacks, 35 forced fumbles, an interception, and two touchdowns of his own.
@MrJamesParks
With the moving and shaking onto and off of the Eagles' offensive line this offseason, there have been, and will be, opportunities for new names and faces to make themselves known in possible starting spots.
The departure of Todd Herremans and Evan Mathis have left two noticeable holes at both guard positions. Jason Peters, still a stalwart at left tackle, is turning 34 this season. Jason Kelce is the presumed center and Lane Johnson has done well at right tackle.
But those two spots on the inside, if not filled, will cause the Eagles' new interior run game some serious troubles if not fastened down by the regular season.
Right now, with training camp looming, Allen Barbre is etched into Mathis' former spot and Matt Tobin in Herremans' former right guard stance.
But there's always room for improvement, and always room for someone who can make their name. A name we haven't heard in some time is Julian Vandervelde.
A fifth-round pick by the Eagles in the 2011 NFL Draft, Vandervelde had an all-Big Ten career at Iowa with enough versatility to play at center and guard. He's appeared in 16 games for Philadelphia, though hasn't shown coaches enough to pencil him in as a potential starter.
He was placed on the waived/injured list a year ago following a back surgery before being signed on again in October as the Eagles' offensive line injuries piled up.
With little to show for his professional career thus far, and with opportunities possibly opening on the front line, Vandervelde is trying to position himself to keep his roster spot.
"Every year, you try to get better at what you do and perfect your craft to a greater degree," he said, via Quad-City Times (Iowa). "It gets to a point where that is harder to accomplish, but you do what you can to find some area where you can be a little faster, a little stronger, or maybe compete a little smarter."
He's been putting in the time near his old alma mater, at Angerer Strength and Performance, a business venture set up by former Iowa and Colts linebacker Pat Angerer.
He's hoping the work he's put in with his old teammate has helped him get where he needs to be heading into training camp.
"I feel strong and ready," he said. "I've had a good offseason of preparation, probably as good as I've had. My training has been good and I feel like I have made the improvement that I have been working to make. The devil is in the detail and that is what I've been working on."
The sudden openings on the line make it somewhat more probable that Vandervelde could earn a spot when the Eagles cut their roster down to 53, but it's a glimmer of a chance.
Phil Sheridan of ESPN has Vandervelde as a "cut" for his 53-man roster projection, along with David Molk, the No. 2 on the depth chart after Jason Kelce.
But hope springs eternal in NFL training camp, and right now it's Julian Vandervelde's most precious commodity.
"That's the hope, that you put yourself in a position to arrive at camp ready to perform at a high level," he said. "I have an understanding of the expectations and I feel like I am prepared to go into camp and benefit from the strength and agility work that I've put into it."
@MrJamesParks
Colt McCoy was called on last season to lead the Redskins after Robert Griffin III fell to injury and Kirk Cousins to a case of the interceptions.
And when, this offseason as a free agent, he had the opportunity to bolt for new pastures, he elected to stay behind another year with the franchise that took a chance on him.
McCoy told the Washington Post he has no regrets about the decision to remain with the Redskins, even though Griffin was tagged the No. 1 starter earlier this spring and on whom the focus has been this spring.
Despite his relegation to a backup role, however, he still feels he has what it takes to be a starting quarterback in the NFL.
"I don't think I would be continuing to play if I didn't believe in my heart that I could start every week in this league," he told 980 ESPN Radio. "I did it in Cleveland. Unfortunately, we just had a lot of inconsistency there and I shouldered the blame for a lot of that.
"But at the same time, I can take those experiences, and I can take the things I learned when I was out in San Francisco for a year, and then I can take the starts I have under my belt last year and feel really confident moving forward."
McCoy was pretty much the only bright spot for the 4-12 Redskins last season. He entered a Week 8 matchup with the Titans, relieving Kirk Cousins to open the second half. His first play from scrimmage was a 70 yard touchdown to Pierre Garcon in what became a last-minute victory for Washington.
The following week, he engineered an overtime victory over the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium in a Monday night contest with his family in attendance.
A pair of neck injuries and the return of RGIII, however, would find him on the bench again.
Redskins head coach Jay Gruden said the backup quarterback competition between McCoy and Cousins is ongoing and will likely be decided sometime during training camp. Until then, McCoy says he's fully supportive of Robert Griffin III taking the helm right now.
"He [Griffin] took all the reps this spring during OTAs and minicamp, and I did my best to be the veteran guy in the room and help him out as much as I could," he said. "Not that he needs my help, but I felt like we have a good relationship."
But that won't stop him from showing coaches what he feels he's capable of.
"Now, on the flip side of that, I'm going to come into camp and compete my tail off. I want to come in and play well. I want to get better."
The only thing keeping RGIII from starting under center is injury. Naturally, that'll be something Gruden and his coaching staff will insure themselves against in the play-calling department, having said this spring they will focus more on establishing a run game behind him.
But should that injury come, the better of two options lay before this team. It's not the guy who threw four (bad) interceptions to the Giants in primetime last season. It's the guy who earned them half of their wins.
@MrJamesParks
Last season, the Philadelphia Eagles had their troubles on the defensive side of the football. They permitted 6,009 total yards and were second-to-last in passing yards allowed. Only Atlanta, their first opponent this season, were worse in that department.
Which was a head-scratcher, given the stoutness of their front seven. Together, the Eagles' defensive line and linebacking corps were among the elite in football. Connor Barwin tallied 14.5 sacks, the fourth most among all defensive players, leading a group whose confidence stemmed from a fierce and attacking front three.
That 31st-ranked pass defense is largely the fault of a dreadful secondary unit that since has been blown apart in a series of moves by Chip Kelly, but a major point of attention resides at the left inside linebacker position in Kiko Alonso.
Largely because of how he came to join the team. Alonso was swapped for LeSean McCoy in a deal that saw the former franchise rushing leader dealt (under tremendous protest) to the Bills for the third-year player.
It didn't hurt that he's one of Chip Kelly's former Oregon Ducks, one of eight on the Eagles' roster.
The No. 1 at his position right now is DeMeco Ryans, a man entering his tenth season and coming off his second career Achilles tear, suffered in the game at Houston that also became the last for quarterback Nick Foles in an Eagles uniform.
Ryans expects to be back this season, something the team apparently endorses, adding another year (and another six-and-a-quarter million dollars) to his contract. In the meantime, he likes what little he's seen of the man behind him on the depth chart.
“What I’ve seen in highlights from him in Buffalo is just interceptions, a bunch of tackles, he’s all over the place,” Ryans said of Alonso, who he met at the NovaCare Complex briefly this spring. “He’s just that old school Mike linebacker running sideline to sideline. He adds a lot of versatility to our inside linebacker group.”
A rookie with Buffalo in 2013, Alonso compiled 159 tackles, two sacks, and four interceptions. His versatility and sideline speed stand out from his game film, in particular his ability to make important plays near the line of scrimmage -- he leaped over on a 2nd-and-Goal in a game against the Browns to keep Willis MacGahee from scoring a touchdown, finishing the game with 22 tackles.
He's coming off an injury of his own, an ACL torn ten months ago that would cost him the entire 2014 season. That injury seems to be behind him, much to his pleasant surprise.
"I honestly didn't think I'd be doing this much," Alonso said, via the Philadelphia Inquirer. "I've just been going on how I feel, and it's feeling really good."
He thought having been coached by Kelly at Oregon would help him ease into his new team. Sure, the terminology is different and that will take some learning, but the scheme and principles are largely similar. But he found the pace of it all was his biggest hurdle in OTAs.
"I knew what to expect, but I definitely thought I'd be more in shape, but I was wrong," he said. "I remember when I was in Buffalo, I was like, 'I can't imagine going against the Eagles and that pace.' Because if you don't practice like that and you go, it's brutal."
He'll be called on to help Ryans ease back into the fold and to pair up with Mychal Kendricks, who last season had some troubles making plays in the middle of the defense. But the question still remains if he can ease back in himself. Having not played since December 2013, he admitted to some "rust" in his form coming into the spring.
If he can get rid of that rust from now until the regular season, there's little stopping him from becoming an important cog in the Eagles' defense. They could use him.
@MrJamesParks
Plenty of heads were scratched when the Eagles traded Nick Foles away to the Rams in exchange for Sam Bradford.
That Sam Bradford? The one who last preseason tore his ACL for a second time? The one who has played in only 49 of a potential 80 career games in the NFL because of injury? That Sam Bradford, who is only one of four No. 1 overall draft selections to never appear in a postseason game?
Yes, that Sam Bradford.
Not to worry, says Chip Kelly. He's done the numbers, and they all add up in the Eagles' favor.
"Our research in terms of dealing with guys with two ACLs, there's a 10-to-12 percent chance of re-injury," he said, via CSNPhilly.com. "So that's an 88-to-90 percent chance that they're going to be successful."
Granted, those two ACL tears gain a majority of the headlines, but they aren't the entirety of Bradford's injuries: his shoulders, a concussion in college, and a high ankle sprain that kept him out of much of his second pro season highlight his medical charts.
But Kelly doesn't see much of a difference between Bradford and any other quarterback.
"Everybody gets hurt in this game," he said.
"I don't know any quarterback who hasn't missed time. Tom Brady missed a year. Peyton Manning missed a year. Drew Brees has missed time. Nick Foles missed half a season. I mean, Aaron Rodgers has been hurt. I don't know if there's a quarterback in this league that hasn't been hurt.
"And if you haven't, you're probably young. That's the deal. You're going to get hurt in this game."
The post-injury accomplishments of those players is inspiring. Brady has since gone 73-23 and won his fourth Super Bowl. Manning is 38-10 with 131 touchdowns and 36 interceptions. And Drew Brees, since being let go by the Chargers ten seasons ago, has a Super Bowl of his own.
Granted, Bradford hasn't had that kind of success during his career. But one wonders, could he have with the talent the Rams consistently put (or failed to put) around him? The lack of wide receivers, running backs, and front protection can derail a quarterback's performance.
When given a chance, Bradford has the intangibles -- a quick release, excellent accuracy, good decision making, consistent character and work ethic, even mobility inside the pocket at times.
Something Chip Kelly believes he can still provide, given what he exchanged for him. Nick Foles had won 14 of 18 games for the Eagles before a broken shoulder at Houston ended his tenure there. He threw 40 touchdowns and only 12 interceptions for an offense that placed in the top-five the last two seasons.
That, in exchange for a player who averages 9.5 starts every season in the NFL.
But Kelly has said often that Bradford's injuries were relatively clean, and how there were no issues aside from the ACLs themselves.
"He didn't have any cartilage damage or anything like that," he said.
Which makes the injury question intruiging in one way. Would you rather have a quarterback who is injured often but not seriously, or seriously but not often? Brady, Manning, Brees, and Rodgers are clearly in the latter camp. Bradford is in the former.
"But that's a risk we were willing to take," Kelly said. "You know it's a risk, but it was a risk we were willing to take."
A $13 million risk that all but confirms the Eagles have no desire to see Sam Bradford sitting on a bench watching Mark Sanchez as the starter Week 1 in Atlanta.
@MrJamesParks
There was a surge of moving van business being transacted into and out of Philadelphia this spring as Chip Kelly engineered the greatest turnover of any NFL franchise in his first offseason as the Eagles' de facto general manager.
The change of address for cornerbacks Bradley Fletcher and Cary Williams was a welcome sight after what could only be described as an embarrassing showing in 2014. Their seeming incapacity compromised an otherwise respectable defense: the secondary last season posted the second-worst effort against the pass, allowing the fourth most thrown touchdowns (30) and the second-most passing yards per game (258).
The silver lining in that cloud could be safety Malcolm Jenkins, who, in his second season with the Eagles over from the Saints, will likely start opposite Earl Wolff at the position. Rookie Eric Rowe, Walter Thurmond, and Byron Maxwell fill out the corners.
And while Thurmond got a one-year deal, the Eagles went all-out on Maxwell, giving him a six year contract worth $63 million. They clearly believe Maxwell will be their No. 1 corner for the long-term. Are they right?
The optimism with which they planted their flag for Maxwell could have arisen from the fact that the Eagles haven't had a franchise corner of their own for a fair amount of time.
Asante Samuel, who left in 2011, rings a bell as the last.
Maxwell has repaid the Eagles with some optimism of his own, guaranteeing (gulp) that Philadelphia will represent the NFC in Super Bowl 50.
Drafted in the sixth round of the 2011 NFL Draft by the Seahawks, Maxwell has only 17 starts to his credit in four seasons. Seattle eased him into their gameplan, starting him out on special teams before having enough faith to pit him opposite Richard Sherman against some of the best in the NFL. He faced first and second wide receivers from then on, including Dez Bryant and Jordy Nelson.
The results were inspiring, and Maxwell largely held his own as the No. 2 behind Sherman on a Super Bowl run and a pair of NFC Championships as a member of the Legion of Boom.
He steadily improved in production during his time with Seattle, compiling 82 career tackles, three forced fumbles, recovering three, and adding six interceptions. Last season was his best (39 tackles, 2 INT, 39 return yards). His interception of Aaron Rodgers in last year's NFC Championship helped propel the Seahawks into their second straight Super Bowl appearance.
The Eagles' secondary is more or less a blank slate for him to make his own. He'll have enough help in front of him in a front seven that ranked with the elite in football last season. Their deep linebacking corps and an attacking defensive line will give him (and whoever ends up opposite him in the other corner, likely Nolan Carroll) to establish themselves without too much pressure.
He has all the cliched makings of a pro cornerback (and pretty much every other position): size, speed, versatility, leadership, confidence, work ethic, and good hands. All things Chip Kelly knew he had when he approved the deal.
"When you see him in person, you see how big and tall and long he is and what a disruptive force he is," Kelly said in June. "He had a good game against us. If you ask Jordan [Matthews, Eagles wide receiver], he would say he was the best cover guy that he faced last year as a rookie."
Maxwell & Co. held the Eagles to 10 completions in December for all of 96 yards (and 57 yards rushing). Zach Ertz led Philadelphia with 39 yards in a dreary 10-point defeat.
Kelly saw something that day he knew he wanted on his roster. Armed with fistfulls of Jeffrey Lurie's cash, he got it.
Maxwell was a major move for the Eagles to take to repair a major issue of theirs last season. His youth and increasing productivity, combined with ample help in front of him, will help him to lock down at least half the defensive backfield as the Eagles look to mount a much-needed postseason run in Chip Kelly's third year at the helm.
With respect to Fletcher and Williams, the unit very nearly had nowhere to go but up.
@MrJamesParks
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger must be getting greedy since the team gave him that $60.75 million guaranteed.
But greedy in a good way, for the betterment of his team.
Which, he thinks, has its best days ahead of it.
A team that last season set records for points (456), first downs (379), and yards per game (411) in the eight decades and two years there's been pro football in the Steel City.
Roethlisberger was a vital cog in the offensive triumverate that powered Pittsburgh in 2014, alongside wide receiver Antonio Brown and tailback Le'Veon Bell.
As he reported to training camp over the weekend, "Big Ben" infused the proceedings with some traditional preseason optimism.
"We want to start fast and we want to be able to put 30 points on the board in every game," he said, via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
He believes it's a possibility moreover than just the usual offensive headline-grabbers, but more importantly because of the state of his front protection.
"That group in front of me is as good as any in the league, and as good as any I've ever had," he said. "It's great. Then you look at outside receiver. AB [Brown] is as good as anybody in this league and arguably one of the greatest that I've played with. Just all around on offense, we have just a special group. It has a chance to be really good."
Rothelisberger passed for 4,952 yards last season, tied for most in football with Drew Brees, with whom he also tied for first in yards per game (310). His 30 touchdowns were seventh-most against only nine interceptions.
A mere pittance compared with what he thinks is to come in his 12th professional season, considering his ageless throwing arm and the combination of youth, speed, and experience he has around him in his supporting cast.
@MrJamesParks
The Indianapolis Colts have made a move on the offensive line prior to training camp starting up.
The team announced on Sunday they released veteran tackle Gosder Cherlius.
He ended last season on the injured reserve list after issues with his shoulder and groin, and following a recent knee scope that kept him from joining the team in their offseason work this spring. There had been talk from the team that Cherlius would be on the roster when training camp began.
Cherlius joined the Colts as a free agent from the Lions prior to the 2013 season, playing 29 games for Indianapolis in his two seasons there. He signed a five-year deal worth $34.5 million, but his play failed to live up to what the team had expected. Despite his performance, he was paid the $15.5 million the contract guaranteed him.
The opening at the right tackle position seems to provide an opportunity for Jack Mewhort, last season played well at left guard. The Colts seem to have faith in Mewhort to fit the bill after a fair outing in 2014.
And the opening at left guard that would result in such a move could, theoretically, give the Colts a chance at Evan Mathis, the Eagles' former left guard who was released this spring by Chip Kelly after a contract disagreement. Mathis is a talented free agent and yet to sign with another team, but will turn 34 years old in November and is coming off an injury that left him out seven games last season.
@MrJamesParks
