Camp news around the NFL

[Uncle Rico]

Going to give a shot by playing in the rules and putting this in the NFL forum (even though I think there's enough interest to put it in the main forum, and am relatively sure someone will start a similar thread there ...)


Chris Mortensen ‏@mortreport 26s
Watching NFL Live, @AdamSchefter just reported John Abraham has signed a 1-year contract with the Arizona Cardinals. Gotta love the NFC West


Sports Illustrated ‏@SInow 57m
Reports: Seahawks WR Percy Harvin has 'slight tear' in labrum, could require surgery Reports: Seahawks WR Percy Harvin has ?slight tear? in labrum, could require surgery | SI Wire

 

[Claremonster]

Just as long as there are no Pats players...

 

[jmt57]

Buffalo Bills:

Bills, Byrd remain in contract stalemate - Sports - The Buffalo News

The Bills and Byrd have not made progress on a new contract, and he will not report to St. John Fisher College for the start of training camp, two sources with knowledge of the stalemate told The Buffalo News.

Players will begin arriving at St. John Fisher today and must report by Saturday. The first practice is Sunday night.

Byrd, a two-time Pro Bowl safety, technically isn’t staging a holdout and cannot be fined for missing practices because he’s not under contract. He’s the last of eight NFL players to have not signed his franchise tag.

The Bills and Byrd already missed the July 15 deadline for franchised players to negotiate multiyear contract extensions. He now may sign only a one-year deal.

A key issue preventing Byrd from signing could be his desire for a no-franchise clause, which would prohibit the Bills from franchising him again next year. The Bills gave cornerback Nate Clements a no-franchise guarantee in 2006, clearing the way for him to sign with the San Francisco 49ers the next year.

While the Bills would prefer to have Byrd at St. John Fisher and learning new defensive coordinator Mike Pettine’s playbook, that might not happen before the team breaks camp Aug. 21.

Byrd would, however, begin to miss out on weekly game checks if he’s not under contract before the Sept. 8 regular-season opener against the New England Patriots. Players do not get paid until then.

Byrd has until Nov. 12 to sign a contract and still receive credit for a season toward free agency, his pension and other NFL benefits. If he doesn’t sign by that deadline, then he will be ineligible to play until the 2014 season.

The franchise tag for safeties is one year for $6.916 million guaranteed. That would rank Byrd seventh among all NFL safeties in average annual salary, but he wanted the open market to dictate his worth.​

What to expect from Doug Marrone's Bills - AFC East Blog - espn

The most significant changes Marrone brings from Syracuse in replacing the fired Chan Gailey are his schemes. Buffalo is a team in major transition in 2013. Marrone is installing a new defense, a new offense and will start a new quarterback. Marrone comes to Buffalo with an offensive pedigree. He runs an up-tempo, K-Gun style that puts a lot of pressure on the defense. However, with questions at quarterback surrounding Kevin Kolb and EJ Manuel, it may not be in Marrone's best interest to speed the game up for four quarters.

There will be times when Marrone must adjust and slow the game down in order to hand the ball to his best offensive player: tailback C.J. Spiller. Gailey made the mistake of ignoring Spiller in the past. Marrone would be wise not to make the same error. Defensively, Marrone handed the group over to former New York Jets defensive coordinator Mike Pettine. Buffalo will be very aggressive and blitz-heavy, which is needed after last year's meager performance under former defensive coordinator Dave Wannstedt.​

 

[jmt57]

Miami Dolphins:

Greg Cote: Miami Dolphins’ Ryan Tannehill must embrace greatness - Greg Cote - MiamiHerald.com

Former QB Chad Pennington, on a conference call this week with Dolphins season-ticket holders, said Tannehill last season learned “there are more games lost than won.” It might have been a reference to Tannehill’s league-worst passer rating on crucial third-down plays, or the fact seven of his 13 interceptions came on that down.

Let’s not already caution down Tannehill into the role of play-it-safe caretaker, though. He’s too young and was drafted too high and has too much potential to give up on “great” and already settle for good or safe.

Conceding anything to his more celebrated draft classmates always was wrong-headed, based on one season, because Tannehill did not enter the league as right-now-ready as the other three, after only 20 college starts at Texas A&M. Neither was Tannehill surrounded by as many weapons, a situation Wallace and an emerging Lamar Miller should make better.

The mind casts back 30 years to a guy named Dan Marino, whose arrival into the NFL had some common ground with Tannehill’s.

Young Ryan could take a lesson from the greatest Dolphin.

The lesson is: Concede nothing.

If Tannehill is any sort of competitive he should want to compare himself to others, even if that fire is kept internal. Luck, Griffin and Wilson are the immediate and career measuring stick set before him, whether he admits it or not.
​

 

[jmt57]

New Jersey Jets:

NY Jets WR Santonio Holmes remains noncommittal about whether he'll play this season - NY Daily News

Santonio Holmes casted more doubt on his future by refusing to say if he'll play at all this season.

"I can't answer that question right now," Holmes said when directly asked if he expects to play at all in 2013. "It's the first day of training camp. How are you going to answer that question? They don't know… I had two surgeries. All I can do is rehab right now."

Holmes, who is on the active/PUP list, has undergone two surgeries since suffering a severe LisFranc foot injury early last season. On Thursday, he admitted that he's done some full-weight bearing straight-line running, but there's still plenty of rehab left.

Can he see himself playing between now and the end of the regular season?
"I want to, but I have to do what the foot says to do," Holmes said. "If it's not ready to roll, it's not ready to roll."
​

Goodson does not report to Jets training camp - NYPOST.com

When the Jets reported to training camp Thursday, new running back Mike Goodson was not with him.

Goodson was placed on the Reserve Did Not Report list. Goodson is still dealing with the legal situation stemming from his arrest in May on drug and weapons charges in New Jersey, but his agent Kennard McGuire said his absence is unrelated to hat.

“Mike is attending to a few personal matters,” McGuire wrote in an email. “The Jets and [general manager] John Idzik are aware and have been nothing but supportive.”

The Jets signed Goodson to a three-year, $6.9 million contract in March. He is expected to compete for major playing time.

“We knew Mike was not going to report and we understand why he’s not here,” coach Rex Ryan said in a team-issued statement.

Goodson is not the only running back who is not going to be on the field today. Fourth-year back Joe McKnight was placed on the active non-football injury list. He failed the team’s conditioning test, according to a source.​

New RB Ivory sits out Jets practice with tight hamstring

Chris Ivory may have had to learn the hard way, but he’s clearly learned. After being injury-plagued throughout college and his first two years in the NFL, the Jets’ new running back sat out the first day of practice with a tight hamstring
​

 

[jmt57]

Baltimore Ravens​

TE Dennis Pitta is out for the year with a hip injury, and the Ravens signed Visanthe Shiancoe in his place. If Shiancoe flames out then the other TE opposite Ed ****son will be another former Patriot, DE-turned-TE Alex Silvestro. In case anybody forgot Shiancoe had zero receptions last year and was cut after he ran the wrong route, which resulted in an interception.


Joe Flacco, Baltimore Ravens aim for encore - The Washington Post

Linebacker Ray Lewis is retired. Safety Ed Reed signed with Houston. Receiver Anquan Boldin left for San Francisco. In all, the Ravens lost nine starters from their Super Bowl XLVII roster — three on offense, six on defense. There are 49 players in camp who were not on the roster when the Ravens won the title. For the sake of comparison, defending NFC champion San Francisco opens camp this week without four starters from last season’s Super Bowl — two on offense and two on defense.

Baltimore’s losses struck the core of the team, on and off the field. Coaches will spend the next six weeks trying to figure out who replaces center Matt Birk. Can rookie Brandon Williams, a third-round pick out of Missouri Southern State, clog the middle of the defensive line? Will the addition of linebacker Elvis Dumervil help stem the bleeding on defense? Who plays opposite receiver Torrey Smith on offense, and will new additions like Michael Huff and rookie Matt Elam sufficiently bolster the secondary?​

I will say that talk about the Ravens' demise is extremely premature; don't forget that they get Jameel McClain and Lardarius Webb back, who were on IR last year. In terms of replacing Anquan Boldin, while Jacoby Jones is the frontrunner (despite failing his conditioning test), don't overlook Tandon Doss. Doss can play the X, Y, or Z and is entering his third year in the NFL - a time that many wide receivers have historically made a big step forward.


Their current depth chart looks like this:

LWR	82	Smith, Torrey 11/2	16	Reed, David 10/5	11	Streeter, Tommy 12/6	80	Mellette, Aaron 13/7	18	Carter, Rashaad CF13
 		 		13	Sheppard, Gerrard CF13	14	Brown, Marlon CF13	6	Rivers, Marcus SF13
RWR	12	Jones, Jacoby CC/Hou	17	Doss, Tandon 11/4	83	Thompson, Deonte CF12	15	Williams, LaQuan CF11	 	
LT	78	MCKINNIE, BRYANT CC/Min	61	Mims, David SF13	69	Devey, Jordan CF13	64	Gaines, Rogers CF13	 	
LG	72	Osemele, Kelechi 12/2	70	Harewood, Ramon 10/6	 		 		 	
C	66	Gradkowski, Gino 12/4	77	Jensen, Ryan 13/6	68	Shipley, AQ T/Ind	65	Stephens, Reggie SF12	 	
RG	73	Yanda, Marshal 07/3	71	Wagner, Ricky 13/5	60	McClain, Antoine CF12	 		 	
RT	74	Oher, Michael 09/1	76	Reid, Jah 11/3	79	Cornell, Jack CF12	63	Unga, Joe CF13	 	
TE	84	****son, Ed 10/3	00	SHIANCOE, VISANTHE SF13	48	Silvestro, Alex SF12	85	Furstenburg, Matt CF13	86	BAJEMA, BILLY SF 13
QB	5	Flacco, Joe 08/1	2	Taylor, Tyrod 11/6	8	Hanie, Caleb CC/Den	 		 	
FB	40	Juszczyk, Kyle 13/4	 		 		 		 	
RB	27	Rice, Ray 08/2	30	Pierce, Bernard 12/3	34	Rainey, Bobby CF12	35	Allen, Anthony 11/7	28	Berry, Damien CF11
Defense
LDE	99	CANTY, CHRIS CC/NYG	97	Jones, Arthur 10/5	67	Lewis-Moore, Kapron NFI/ACT	64	Pericak, Will CF13	 	
NT	62	Cody, Terrence 10/2	98	Williams, Brandon 13/3	 		 		 	
RDT	92	Ngata, Haloti 06/1	96	SPEARS, MARCUS CC/Dal	93	Tyson, DeAngelo 12/7	69	Larsen, Cody CF13	 	
LOLB	55	SUGGS, TERRELL 03/1	90	McPhee, Pernell 11/5	47	Simon, John 13/4	54	Hamilton, Adrian SF12	 	
LILB	53	McClain, Jameel PUP/ACT	50	McClellan, Albert CF10	42	Carr, Nigel CF12	48	Copeland, Brandon CF13	 	
RILB	59	Brown, Arthur 13/2	56	Bynes, Josh CF11	95	Hall, Bryan CF11	51	SMITH, DARYL SF13	 	
ROLB	58	Dumervil, Elvis CC/Den	91	Upshaw, Courtney 12/2	43	Adkins, Spencer SF13	49	Bryant, DJ SF12	45	Williams, Meshak CF13
LCB	21	Webb, Lardarius 09/3	23	Brown, Chykie 11/5	25	Jackson, Asa 12/5	34	Lee, Mo CF13	 	
SS	26	Elam, Matt 13/1	32	Ihedigbo, James SF12	33	Thompson, Christian SUS/4	28	Trawick, Brynden CF13	 	
FS	29	HUFF, MICHAEL CC/Oak	38	Brown, Omar CF12	41	Levine, Anthony CF10	39	Walker, Gary CF13	 	
RCB	24	Graham, Corey U/Chi	22	Smith, Jimmy 11/1	37	JOHNSON, CHRIS SF12	36	Anthony, Marc 13/7	 	
Special Teams
P	4	KOCH, SAM 06/6	 		 		 		 	
PK	9	Tucker, Justin CF12	 		 		 		 	
LS	46	Cox, Morgan CF10	 		 		 		 	
PR	12	Jones, Jacoby CC/Hou	17	Doss, Tandon 11/4	25	Jackson, Asa 12/5	 		 	
KR	12	Jones, Jacoby CC/Hou	16	Reed, David 10/5	 		 		 	
Reserves
RES	88	Pitta, Dennis IR