Chris Johnson hasn’t heard from Titans about contract

Getty Images

Next week is a big one for Titans running back Chris Johnson.

Five days after either the Ravens or 49ers are crowned as champions, $9 million of Johnson’s $10 million salary for the 2013 season becomes guaranteed. The Titans haven’t said publicly what they plan to do in regard to Johnson and Johnson says they haven’t been any more forthcoming about their plans in private.

“Everybody talks about it, but I haven’t heard from them, not anything,” Johnson said, via the Tennessean. “So I don’t know.”

There hasn’t been much indication that the Titans are thinking about releasing Johnson, who ran for 1,243 yards and six touchdowns this season, but Johnson may have provided some reason for them to consider it at another point in his converstion. Johnson gave his impression on how close the Titans are to making the Super Bowl and it wasn’t one that suggested a $10 million running back is going to be the difference between a parade and sorrow in Nashville.

“We’re very, very, very far away,” Johnson said. “I can’t even see it. It’s like it’s in space.”

We’ll find out pretty soon if Johnson’s going to be part of the Titans’ plan to get a little closer in 2013.

Getty Images

Cardinals President Michael Bidwill expresses doubt the NFL will have a team based in the UK in the near future. Bidwill, in London this week assessing facilities at Wembley and Twickenham ahead of the NFL’s games there this season, told Sky Sports News HQ that the league will “continue to study it, but I don’t think there’s any timeline out there.”

For the 10th consecutive season, the NFL will play games in London. The Cardinals will play the Rams at Twickenham on Oct. 22, while the Vikings face the Browns there on Oct. 29. Wembley will host the Ravens and Jaguars on Sept. 24 and the Dolphins and Saints on Oct. 1.

But scheduling teams to play one game in the UK obviously is much different than having a team based there.

“We’re getting a lot of support for the NFL over here, but I think one of the big things is going to be the travel; the different time zones and how it might impact the athletes playing here and traveling to play here,” Bidwill said, via Sophie Morris of Sky Sports News HQ. “One of the things we really care about is our players’ health. We want to see how this is going to impact the athlete and we want to make sure that there is no competitive imbalance.”

Patriots owner Robert Kraft appears more optimistic, insisting the NFL will have a team in London. It is a prediction he has made for several years now.

“Now we play four games a year in London and sell tickets to 80,000 people and we’re going to have a team in London,” Kraft said, speaking at Cannes Lions as part of an interview with WPP Group CEO Martin Sorrell via the New York Post. “We’re playing the Raiders in Mexico and have plans to play in Germany, Canada and Brazil and China. I don’t know why not France?”

Getty Images

Derek Carr should seek a marketing deal with Chick-fil-A. He gave the fast-food restaurant a shoutout Friday during a press conference officially to announce his new deal with the Raiders, getting it plenty of free publicity.

Carr’s five-year, $125 million deal makes him the highest-paid player in NFL history, prompting a question about where the quarterback will spend his newfound riches.

“Chick-fil-A,” Carr answered to laughter. “Probably Chick-fil-A. I’ve been eating clean. I’ll probably get some Chick-fil-A.”

Carr actually has big plans to use some of the money for the greater good. He said he will continue to tithe, something he has done since college, and hopes to help the less fortunate.

“The exciting thing for me money-wise, honestly, is this money’s going to help a lot of people,” Carr said. “I’m very thankful to have it, that it’s in our hands, because it’s going to help people not only in this country but in a lot of countries around the world. That’s what’s exciting for me.”

He does have one important shopping trip ahead.

“I’ll probably give my wife something nice, even though she begs me not to,” Carr said.

Getty Images

One of the most widely-accepted realities of Chronic Traumatic Encephelopathy has been undermined by one of the highest courts in the United States.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, one of various appellate courts that sit one step below the Supreme Court, has ruled in a case involving former NFL linebacker Jesse Solomon that the joint NFL-NFL Players Association Disability Plan abused its discretion in denying Solomon’s claim for disability benefits. In so doing, the court seemed to accept the notion that Solomon, who was involved in 69,000 high-speed collisions while playing football, has “CTE-related disability” and “CTE injuries.”

While hardly a medical finding that CTE can indeed be diagnosed without examining the brain tissue of a deceased patient, the court’s 13-page ruling seems to accept as a given the notion that CTE can be diagnosed based on a combination of MRIs and an assessment of symptoms.

It’s possible that those observations slipped in to the final written decision because the lawyers representing the Plan didn’t sufficiently focus on that point in written materials or while arguing the case in the courtroom. As to the former, it’s possible the lawyers regarded the inability to firmly diagnose CTE in living patients as a given. As to the latter, and based on a press release issued by Solomon’s lawyers, it’s possible the lawyers were too busy taking flak from judges to quibble with medical and scientific niceties.

“Why is the Plan fighting him so incredibly hard?” Judge Dennis Shedd said. “And when he makes the claim through your own doctor that he’s got a problem? . . .  Why in the world would you – I guess current players don’t want money to come out for past players, or something? . . . Why in the world would any player playing professional football . . . look at this and go, ‘This is one heck of a great deal for players.’ We play as hard as we can, give everything we got, get banged up — I saw something in the record [about] 69,000 tackles, that’s incredible.  We do all we can, and then we apply and when doctors say I have a problem based on those hits, and they say, ‘You’re not orthopedically disabled, go away.’ . . .

“[S]omebody ought to scratch their head and say, Does this really look good?  We don’t have much of a legal argument, but we’re willing to fight it to the death to deny somebody . . . Does that make sense to you? . . . Do you think that looks good to players, what’s going on in this courtroom today?  It’s not necessarily part of the determination, I’m just asking a real-world question.”

The real-world outcome is that Solomon will receive disability benefits, because the panel unanimously concluded that the Plan “relied on no evidence at all” in rejecting Solomon’s claim. It’s a stunning observation given the supposed sensitivity to brain injuries. Perhaps more importantly, the ease with which the judges seemed to agree that Solomon proved that he has CTE while still alive raises renewed questions about whether the massive concussion settlement should have allowed players to secure benefits if they can sufficiently prove that they suffer from CTE.

Getty Images

The Vikings were left with an open slot on their coaching staff earlier this month when strength and conditioning coach Brent Salazar left the team in order to work for the United States Tennis Association.

They filled it on Friday. The team announced that Mark Uyeyama will be heading up the strength and conditioning department for the 2017 season.

Uyeyama spent the last nine years working for the 49ers under a succession of different head coaches before being dismissed upon Kyle Shanahan’s arrival in Santa Clara. He worked at Utah State before making the move to the 49ers in 2008.

Barring any other unexpected shifts from the gridiron to other pursuits, that should be the final change to Mike Zimmer’s staff before the 2017 season.

Getty Images

The Ravens drafted defensive end Bronson Kaufusi in the third round last season, but they have yet to see him on the field. Kaufusi broke his left ankle early in training camp and missed all of last season rehabbing.

“Injuries are always frustrating, but you also have to look for the silver lining in it,” Kaufusi said, via the team website. “So, for me, it was a chance to learn, grow and take everything in that I could so I could be ready for this upcoming year.”

Kaufusi, now fully healed, took some first-team reps during offseason practices in his bid to replace Lawrence Guy, who left in free agency. Veteran Brent Urban remains the favorite to win the starting job, but Kaufusi will compete with Urban and rookie Chris Wormley for playing time at the position.

“I want to make a difference,” Kaufusi said. “No matter where it is on the field, I want to get out there and make plays for our team, for our defense and just contribute.”

The Ravens drafted Kaufusi for his pass-rush ability. He had 11 sacks in his senior season at BYU and 26.5 for his four-year career.

Getty Images

With Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott in the same draft class, Maliek Collins got overshadowed and overlooked. But the defensive tackle quietly had a successful rookie season, which has defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli excited about Collins’ future.

Collins’ 656 snaps — 61.9 percent of the defensive plays — were the most of any Cowboys defensive lineman. In fact, among the team’s defenders, only linebacker Sean Lee and four defensive backs received more. Collins, a third-round pick in 2016, made 31 tackles, five sacks and 14 quarterback pressures last season.

Collins, though, expected more and wants more.

“I never meet my own goals,” Collins said, via the team website. “My goal is to be the best player I can be so that I always keep improving. That’s how I set my goals. I don’t really do it statistically. Then you’re out there chasing stats. The goal is to improve every day. If I’m not improving every day, then I’m doing something wrong.”

Collins plays the three-technique, one of the most important positions in Marinelli’s scheme. Hall of Famer Warren Sapp manned that position for Marinelli in Tampa Bay. Collins has studied some the best three-techniques ever, including Sapp, in hopes of becoming the next great one.

“The standards are basically written,” Collins said. “Me being a three-technique, the standards are in the history books of what three-techniques have done in this system. I like to say that’s the standard. The people like John Randle, guys like Warren Sapp or [Keith] Millard, who started the system. [Anthony] McFarland, those types of players.”

Getty Images

At the start of a Friday press conference to discuss quarterback Derek Carr’s contract extension, General Manager Reggie McKenzie called it a “big day” for the organization.

McKenzie also said that he’s now going to turn his attention toward more big days and big extensions in the future. Carr said during his opening remarks that it was important for him to “structure [his deal] in a way to help the Raiders” hold onto other players and McKenzie said that the contract accomplished that. 

“The bottom line is we’re able to continue to move forward to be to keep all the players that we need to keep in the correct timing,” McKenzie said. “This affords us to do that. We’ll start on that ASAP.”

Defensive end Khalil Mack and right guard Gabe Jackson, both of whom joined Carr in the 2014 draft class, are expected to be the next two players up for extensions in Oakland. The team picked up Mack’s option for the 2018 season and Jackson is set for free agency if he can’t agree on a deal before the start of the next league year.

It’s official: Derek Carr will be the Raiders’ franchise quarterback through the remainder of their time in Oakland, and when they move to Las Vegas as well.

The Raiders announced today that Carr has signed a five-year contract extension and is now under contract with the team through the 2022 season. They even posted the standard photo of the player putting pen to paper.

Carr was the Raiders’ second-round draft pick in 2014, earned the starting job in training camp, and started every game until he was injured at the end of last season. He has steadily improved and had his best season in 2016, with 28 touchdown passes and six interceptions.

Although Carr was injured and unable to play in the postseason last year, the Raiders believe he’s going to lead them to many more playoff berths, for many more years. And they’ve given him a contract that currently makes him the highest-paid player in the NFL.

Getty Images

Washington’s plans for receiver Jamison Crowder don’t simply include making him a full-time starter. The team also intends to deploy him in multiple different ways.

“I’ve said all along Jamison can play anywhere,” coach Jay Gruden recently said, via Mark Bullock of the Washington Post. “He can play outside, inside. He can play running back probably if he wanted to. So we’ll utilize Jamison and try to get him more involved, not just in the passing game and the running game.”

Ultimately, whether Crowder plays running back depends on whether Gruden wants him to. If he does, things could get very interesting.

Crowder primarily has played in the slot for his first two seasons, with DeSean Jackson (gone to the Bucs) and Pierre Garςon (gone to the 49ers) on the outside. Starting this year, Crowder will be all over the place — despite being only five feet, eight inches tall.

“He just continues to prove every day why we like him so much,” Gruden said. “He’s great on option routes, he can run vertical stems. He can run just about anything you ask him to run. . . . He gets himself open because he’s got a great feel. He’s got quickness in and out of his breaks. He plays a lot longer than his size. He has got really long arms. He goes up and gets balls. Sometime he plays bigger than a taller receiver because he uses his height [and] he’s got great jumping ability and times the jumps extremely well. Some tall guys you see, they misjudge it and they don’t jump. But Jamison, he times them perfect and makes big plays.”

Crowder caught 67 passes (second on the team) for 847 yards (third) and seven receiving touchdowns (first) in 2016. With both a full-time role and the opportunities that may come from being on the outside, in the slot, and in the backfield, Crowder could make Washington fans quickly forget the two high-priced receivers that got away. And he could be on his way to becoming a high-priced receiver.

Getty Images

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said earlier this week that his relationship with Patriots owner Robert Kraft “was never strained” despite the #Deflategate investigation.

Kraft may not be reading off the same script.

One of the commissioner’s 32 bosses told Claire Atkinson of the New York Post a slightly different version.

“I don’t hold grudges but I never forget,” Kraft said. “Sometimes people mess up at when they’re doing their jobs, but it most organizations people make bad decisions. I’m about the present and the future.”

So, yeah, no strain. Ever. Clearly.

As much as Goodell might want to believe (and sell) the idea that he and Kraft are arm-in-arm again, it’s clear that the Patriots owner hasn’t fully let go of what he seems to have perceived to be a witch hunt. If only he had a Twitter account with which to talk about it more.

Getty Images

It has been a while since the NFL has seen a quarterback make a successful jump from the Canadian Football League, but it certainly isn’t without precedent.

Warren Moon, Jeff Garcia and Joe Theismann all starred in Canada before thriving in the U.S. and Doug Flutie did the same after returning from the CFL for a second NFL stint. Calgary Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell hopes to get a chance to do the same thing.

Mitchell was the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player last year while taking Calgary to the Grey Cup and was the MVP of Canada’s title game after the 2014 season. That success has the Texas native and Eastern Washington product with a desire to see if he can make it in the NFL as well.

“I think about it all the time,” Mitchell said, via Dan Graziano of ESPN.com. “Just now in training camp, there were seven or eight scouts who came in. I know there’s been some talk in the NFL about me. When my time comes, the NFL has been my dream since I was a kid. I’ll take that shot. … I know it’s not the easiest thing. I’ve seen a lot of guys attempt to do it. But I feel I can play. I feel like I can be a Warren Moon, a Garcia, a Doug Flutie, a guy who comes from the CFL and plays in the league for a long time.”

Mitchell is under contract for two more years, so a jump over the border isn’t imminent. It may also be a long shot.

Mitchell, who opted for a CFL contract over a tryout with the Texans coming out of college in 2012, says he’s also looking for “a perfect situation” and a better one than his current standing with the Stampeders may not develop even if he continues to thrive in Calgary.

AP

Cardinals quarterback Drew Stanton entered the league as a second-round pick of the Lions in 2007 and has spent the last decade serving as a backup in Detroit, Indianapolis and Arizona.

Stanton has seen a lot of quarterbacks move through the league over that time and that experience has left him with strong views about how the league handles the development of young quarterbacks. Like a lot of other people, Stanton believes they aren’t doing a very good job and points to the move away from having a third quarterback on the inactive list on Sundays as a particular problem.

“It’s so hard to develop as a quarterback in this league nowadays,” Stanton said, via Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com. “The NFL is, unfortunately, heading into a bad trend. When I first got in the league, you could be an inactive third on game day like I was when I was younger. That transitions into now, they’re trying to save spots and get guys to the practice squad.”

Stanton’s coach Bruce Arians made it clear that’s the case in Arizona when discussing Cardinals backups Stanton, Blaine Gabbert and Trevor Knight. Arians said keeping a third quarterback on the active roster comes down to whether he’s “the best player, regardless of position” and the fact that quarterbacks don’t play special teams plays a role in that decision.

Even if the league were to revert to the old inactive arrangement, there would still be limits on how much work quarterbacks down the depth chart get with teams preparing their starter to win games every week. That’s one of the reasons why there have been frequent calls for a true developmental league in the vein of the departed NFL Europe, although those calls haven’t led the league to take action at this point.

Getty Images

While Amazon may indeed become a key part of the NFL’s immediate future when it comes to the so-called OTT broadcasting of games, there’s another option that the league quietly is considering: Cutting out the middleman and streaming games directly to customers.

As recently explained by John Ourand of SportsBusiness Journal, the NFL has been selling live games directly to consumers in Europe, and the league currently is focused on growing the product. While the league currently doesn’t sell live game action to domestic consumers, it could just be a matter of time before the NFL creates a similar product that would allow the league to manage the experience and retain all revenue.

The question becomes whether a service like Amazon will offer enough money for the ability to stream games in order to make it more financially viable for the league to simply collect the rights fees in lieu of creating its own in-house streaming business.

But here’s the one thing to keep in mind. Even with OTT being a big part of the league’s future, broadcast TV via free over-the-air networks won’t be going away, especially since the NFL would risk losing its broadcast antitrust exemption if the league stops making football available on free TV, a practice the NFL championed several years ago while stubbornly (and clumsily) defending the blackout rule.

Regardless of how it all plays out, big changes are looming for the way live NFL games are consumed, from the way that we watch to the way that the league gets paid for it to, ultimately, how much money the NFL continues to make. Despite the league’s popularity, the NFL has benefited over the years from the willingness of networks to overpay for pro football. If/when that ends, it will be difficult for the league to continue to grow the multi-billion-dollar pie.

Getty Images

In his 17 NFL seasons, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has been named NFL MVP only twice. (Loser.) He’s nevertheless the odds-on favorite to win it again.

Via Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times, the Bovada odds for 2017 regular-season MVP show Brady as the 4-1 favorite. Next is Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers at 7-1. Newly-minted $25 million man (and Raiders quarterback) Derek Carr appears third, at 9-1.

Intriguing prospects include Giants quarterback Eli Manning, who at 50-1 may fare a lot better than that given his weapons in the passing game. Ditto for Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston, who created MVP buzz in spurts last year, who has Mike Evans, DeSean Jackson, Cameron Brate, and O.J. Howard this year, and who is rated as a 66-1 underdog to be the league’s top dog.

And now for some safe bets, if you want to place a little action on the “no.” Steelers receiver Antonio Brown has 50-1 odds to win an award that no receiver has ever won. If Brown ever would generate the kind of numbers necessary to be in the conversation, it will mean that the guy throwing the passes has likely done ever more to win the award.

Likewise, Broncos linebacker Von Miller is a 100-1 pick. With a new coach, new coordinators, and an unsettled quarterback situation, Miller will be hard pressed to stand out enough to become only the third defensive player to be named league MVP (Alan Page did it in 1971, and Lawrence Taylor won it in 1986), especially given the many great offensive players throughout the league. So, basically, if I was a betting man, I’d be inclined to risk $100 to win $1 if/when Miller doesn’t win the MVP award.

Getty Images

Amazon will stream NFL games to its Prime subscribers this season, which represents a new source of revenue for the NFL, but a small one: Although the precise amount of money Amazon has paid for NFL deals has been disputed, suffice to say it’s peanuts compared to what NBC, CBS, FOX, ESPN and DirecTV pay for the rights to show NFL games on traditional television.

But while online streams are a tiny fraction of the NFL’s revenues today, that won’t always be the case, according to Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Eventually, Kraft believes, over-the-top content will replace traditional television for the NFL.

“This year we’re with Amazon and for us the future is OTT,” Kraft said, via the New York Post. “We’ll be very interested to see how Amazon goes as it’s behind the paywall. The thing we have to be careful of is millennials. They don’t watch TV, they don’t have TVs or subscribe to cable. So we have to bring that audience in. Partly it’s done through fantasy games and linking to that. Over-the-top is a great opportunity.”

Kraft is probably right about that: A younger generation of fans wants to watch football on phones and on the go, not while sitting in the living room in front of the TV. The NFL needs to figure out how to keep those fans involved — and how to bring in the same kind of revenue from those fans that it brings in from traditional TV viewers.