Tracking former Lions

[wcfwtf]

I have his football card
hood solid Center

[Futureshock]

I would welcome him. Help shore up that middle and push the pocket.


NDAMUKONG SUHDL, UNSIGNED FREE AGENT


DT Ndamukong Suh said he wants to play in 2023, but has "no desire" to attend training camp.


Suh, 36, played eight regular season games for the Eagles last season after signing with the team in November. The team's rush defense improved in the final half of the season with Suh in the defensive interior. It would hardly be surprising if Suh waits until the fall to sign with a team, avoiding the rigors of training camp.

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• Philadelphia Eagles

[Futureshock]

Panthers wide receivers group “under construction” this offseason

Posted by Josh Alper on May 19, 2023, 6:48 AM EDT

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The Panthers know that Bryce Young is their future at quarterback, but there’s less certainty about what the group of players he’ll be throwing to will look like.

DJ Moore was traded to the Bears as part of the package the Panthers used to move up to the first overall pick and the team brought in several new wideouts as part of the process of rebuilding the group. DJ Chark and Adam Thielen signed as free agents and Damiere Byrd returned for a second stint before Jonathan Mingo was drafted in the second round to add to a group that has Terrace Marshall, Laviska Shenault, and Shi Smith back from last year.

On Thursday, wide receivers coach Shawn Jefferson said that the team is sorting out how all of the pieces will stack up.

“We are a group that’s under construction right now. That means everybody. We’re under construction,” Jefferson said, via Schuyler Callahan of SI.com. “We’re trying to get the offense implemented, so we’re in the building process — the land-clearing process phase here. Everybody right now is in learning mode and trying to get used to what we want them to do. We’re finding out what guys can do. It’s part of our job as coaches to put it out there and see what these guys can do, then we can start building the blocks of how we want them, plug them in where we want them to be, and where they fit best according to their talent skill set.”

The Panthers haven’t installed Young as the starter yet, but he will make his way to the top of the depth chart and the makeup of the receiving corps will help determine how he fares once he gets there.

[Futureshock]

Ty Johnson says Jets cut him after surgery on torn pec

Posted by Mike Florio on May 21, 2023, 8:10 PM EDT

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Last month, the Jets released running back Ty Johnson. It was a roster-churning move like so many others that happen throughout the offseason.

Johnson is now expressing disagreement with the move. Via Bryan DeArdo of CBSSports.com, Johnson claims the move came after he suffered a torn pectoral muscle while working out in the offseason — and after the team told him to have surgery to repair it.

He complied. He nevertheless was released with a non-football injury designation on April 26.

“I’ve had some dark, dark days, man,” Johnson said on Instagram. “Went to New York. I told them, even before the report [of the injury surfaced], I was working out and this is what happened. I saw the team doctor, he said, ‘You need to get it fixed.’ Flew out the next day. Come back happy that I got it done even though I didn’t want to get it done.

“That following Wednesday, you’re out of there. And I was like, ‘Damn.’ But at the end of the day, I know I’m going to be all right. . . . Just got to keep going forward.”

The departure of Johnson coincided with the arrival or Aaron Rodgers, so the move went largely unnoticed.

And despite Johnson’s complaint, the Jets didn’t do anything wrong. He suffered a torn pec while working out on his own. It needed to be taken care of. He got it taken care of. They could have cut him now, they could have cut him later.

Johnson rushed for 160 yards last season, in 17 games. In 2021, he rushed for 238 yards in 16 games.

A sixth-round pick of the Lions in 2019, Johnson is now a free agent. One key to getting another chance will be to get healthy.

[Futureshock]

Matthew Stafford is happy to be able to throw in OTAs this year

Posted by Mike Florio on May 23, 2023, 11:44 PM EDT

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Last year, an elbow problem kept Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford from throwing during any of the team’s offseason program. This year, he’s back at it.

“It’s great,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “It’s nice to be able to go out there and throw and get work with the guys. At this point last year, I wasn’t throwing at all. I wasn’t really doing much, so I love playing. I love being out here so it’s nice to be able to be out here with the guys.”

Stafford ended the season with a neck injury that knocked him out for the final seven games. Now, he’s healthy.

That said, he practiced with a sleeve covering his right leg.

“I’m just going to keep putting more sleeves on my body as years go, so just get used to it,” he said with a laugh. “No, I’m fine. I’m out here. I’m good.”

It’s one thing to be healthy now. The challenge for the Rams will be keeping him healthy, especially behind an offensive line that isn’t nearly as potent as the one that helped the team win the Super Bowl only 15 months ago.

The NFC is much more wide open than the AFC. The Rams enter 2023 with very low expectations. If they can keep their key players healthy, a bounce-back year is very possible. But that proved to be a very big “if” in 2022.

[Futureshock]

Adrian Peterson: Mentally, I haven’t officially hung it up

Posted by Charean Williams on May 23, 2023, 5:23 PM EDT

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Adrian Peterson is retired, even if he isn’t ready to acknowledge it.

He is 38, hasn’t played a game since 2021 and hasn’t played a full season since 2020. No one is calling the former running back.

Peterson, though, still hasn’t closed the door on his 15-year career.

“Mentally, I haven’t officially hung it up. We’ll see what happens,” Peterson told Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “My mindset is, if God’s willing, maybe an opportunity presents itself, and maybe it happens this season. I’ll go from there. But [if] nothing happens this season, for sure, I will be hanging it up.”

If Peterson doesn’t play another game — as expected — he will finish as the NFL’s fifth all-time leading rusher with 14,918 yards. He also would become eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the Class of 2027, with Antonio Brown, Richard Sherman and Rob Gronkowski among other candidates.

[whatever_gong82]

This was posted earlier today, so enjoy!


As Calvin Johnson's relationship with Lions improves, training camp appearance realistic

Justin Rogers

The Detroit News


Allen Park — The Detroit Lions are an official sponsor for Calvin Johnson's inaugural charity golf outing next month, which will be held a day after the Hall of Fame receiver's annual youth football camp.

This year, that youth camp is being held at the Lions' practice facility in Allen Park. And last month, Johnson, along with legendary running back Barry Sanders, traveled with team officials to meet first-round draft picks Jahmyr Gibbs and Jack Campbell at the airport the day after the rookies were drafted by the franchise.

While it's not accurate to say the broken relationship has been fully healed, after seven long years, it's clear the fences between Johnson and the only team he knew as a professional are well on their way to being mended.
Calvin Johnson played all nine of his seasons in the NFL with the Detroit Lions, and the relationship with the team is rebuilding.


The first hints of meaningful progress came in February, via an interview with Jim Rome. In that conversation, Johnson credited Lions chief operating officer Mike Disner for reopening dialogue between the sides and getting things moving.

The thoroughly documented strain began after Johnson's retirement in 2016, when the team went after and reclaimed $1.6 million of the signing bonus attached to the contract he signed four years earlier.


After Disner reached out this offseason, the two sides met for brunch and quickly connected on a personal level. And in the conversation, Johnson reiterated his long-held issue on what it would take to repair the relationship.

"Really at the end of the day, I told him, 'Just find a way to rectify the situation. I'm not saying you have to put that money back in my pocket right now, but I would love to find a solution,'" Johnson said in an interview with The Detroit News this week. "I'm not going to say he's going out of his way, but he's working to find a solution."


Further details on that solution weren't provided, but the progress is good news for all parties. The franchise, as it's turning the corner into national relevancy and a playoff contender, no longer has to cope with the lingering cloud of a negative relationship with one of the team's all-time greats, and it will allow fans increased opportunities to see Johnson at team functions.

In fact, there's a good chance we'll see Johnson at training camp this year to work with some of the Lions' young receivers.


"As long as things are trending in the right direction, I want to be out there," Johnson said. "I know I have tools, I know I have stuff I can give that can help better their games, and I want to give it. I want to be able to give it to them because it doesn't do me any good holding that inside.

"I look forward to those days," Johnson said. "I look forward to getting out there this year, actually, and helping this team in any form or fashion I can."

Johnson popped in for a visit at the team's OTA practice on Wednesday. The team posted a video of Johnson embracing coach Dan Campbell on social media.






Part of what drove Johnson to an early retirement was the lack of team success in Detroit. Despite some good seasons, most notably in 2011 and 2014, the Lions were never able to sustain momentum during his nine-year career. Under Campbell, who played with Johnson in Detroit early in his career, there appears to be a stronger foundation to achieve the long-term success Johnson coveted.

"It's a lot of good energy when you look at what's going on around this team," Johnson said. "I'm truly excited about what Dan has in front of him. None of us know what's down the road, but he has a great opportunity with the team that he has and the team behind the scenes with (general manager) Brad (Holmes) and those guys, with what they're continuing to build like they did out there in L.A., man. It shouldn't be before long that we're talking about a winner."


Johnson still calls Michigan home, where he's established a post-career cannabis business, Primitiv, with former teammate Rob Sims. The group recently looped in another former teammate, Gosder Cherilus, expanding into the Boston market, where Cherilus grew up and played collegiately.

And Johnson has continued to be heavily involved in the community through his Calvin Johnson Jr. Foundation, which he established in 2008, his second season with the Lions.

Through his foundation, Johnson has worked with various non-profits in Metro Detroit, including those addressing homelessness and domestic abuse. He's also continued to provide scholarships annually to Detroit- and Atlanta-area high school students.


The golf outing is the newest event on his foundation's calendar. The soldout event will be held on June 12 at Wabeek Country Club in Bloomfield Township, Mich. Several of Johnson's former teammates will participate, including Jason Hanson, Dominic Raiola and Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Darius Slay.

"I look forward to kicking it with them in a couple of weeks," Johnson said. "Some of those guys I haven't seen in a while, but we've kept in contact."

Johnson has become an avid golfer in retirement. He's trimmed his handicap below 15 and is eyeing single digits. As for the charity golf outing, he's wanted to get it off the ground the past few years, and after seeing how much he's been able to raise for the inaugural edition, he regrets not doing it sooner.

"It's very exciting to be this far (with the foundation), but I'm kind of disappointed because I see the fruit that's come from this golf outing," Johnson said. "I'm like, wow, if I would have been doing this from the beginning, who knows where we would be with this thing now."


jdrogers@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @Justin_Rogers

[Futureshock]

LeGarrette Blount, Aaron Dobson working as Patriots coaching fellows

Posted by Josh Alper on June 12, 2023, 1:43 PM EDT

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A couple of former Patriots players are moving into coaching with the team this offseason.

Head coach Bill Belichick said at a Monday press conference that LeGarrette Blount and Aaron Dobson are working as coaching fellows. They are part of the league-wide Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship program.

Blount was traded to the Patriots in 2013 and ran for 772 yards and seven touchdowns before leaving for the Steelers as a free agent. He was released in November 2014 after leaving the field during a game and returned to the Patriots. He would help them win two of the next three Super Bowls and the running back then won another ring as part of the Eagles team that beat the Patriots in Super Bowl LII.

Dobson was a 2013 second-round pick and he played 24 games at receiver for the Patriots before being released in September 2016.

[Futureshock]

Darius Slay: Reunion with Matt Patricia has been “cordial”

Posted by Josh Alper on June 13, 2023, 6:53 AM EDT

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Cornerback Darius Slay was back in Detroit on Monday and that gave him a chance to talk about his former head coach with the Lions.

Slay was traded to the Eagles in March 2020 after his relationship with then-Lions head coach Matt Patricia fell apart. Slay said he had lost all respect for Patricia after a series of issues between the two men, so there were a lot of questions about how Slay would respond to the Eagles’ decision to hire Patricia as a senior defensive assistant this offseason.

During an appearance at a charity golf tournament with Calvin Johnson on Monday, Slay said that things have been “cordial” between the two men since Patricia’s arrival and indicated he expects things to stay that way because both men want the same thing.

“It’s another day at the office,” Slay said, via Jenna Malinowski of the Detroit Free Press. “We both got the same goal, just going out there to compete and win a championship, so that’s the main focus.”

Slay’s interactions with Patricia in his current role are going to be very different than the way they had to interact during their time with the Lions. That should make it easier to avoid the kind of confrontations that helped send Slay to Philadelphia in the first place.

[Futureshock]

Sean McVay: “Night and day” difference having Matthew Stafford available in offseason

Posted by Mike Florio on June 15, 2023, 6:18 AM EDT

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Last year, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford‘s elbow prevented him from throwing at all in the offseason. This year, he was healthy enough to throw from the start of the offseason program, to the finish.

As the Rams wrapped up the 2023 offseason program, coach Sean McVay was asked about the difference between last year and this year.

“Oh, it’s night and day,” McVay told reporters. “I mean, and he’ll be the first to tell you. You talk about being able to enjoy it. I don’t think I realized it or anybody, and he would never say it because he’s so tough, the amount of pain that he was working through, how limited he was, and he’s a special player. He’s the guy that we all know he is. He’s a mentally, physically tough competitor. He elevates everybody around him.

“But to have our quarterback out here, the command, the way that he elevates really defensively, offensively his communication skills, it’s been huge for us. He makes a significant difference. He’s our guy and I’ve really enjoyed this offseason with him. It’ll be good for him to be able to get a little break with his family and enjoy his girls and Kelly [Stafford], and then I know he’ll be excited about coming back to compete the right way.”

McVay says of Stafford “he’s our guy,” even though we heard early in the offseason that the Rams would have welcomed a trade offer for Stafford in lieu of having another $57 million become fully guaranteed. The Jets specifically were the target, in the event they had not gotten Aaron Rodgers.

But the Jets obviously did get Rodgers, and no one made a play for Stafford.

Now that Stafford is healthy, the question is whether he’ll stay healthy once camp gets going and, more importantly, once the season begins. Offensive line issues got him banged up and eventually unable to play in 2022. It could happen again, especially since Stafford seems to have a habit of keeping his mouth shut and fighting through whatever pain and discomfort he might be experiencing.

Frankly, the Rams don’t seem to have improved sufficiently in 2023 to keep Rodgers from getting further banged up, once Week One arrives.



WTF???!!!!

[-Deborah-]

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[Tom]

Poor guy.

[Iron Lion]

Does that affect the picks we get from Atlanta? Were they conditional or is the trade done and settled?

[jaadam4]

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that sucks. I was still rooting for the kid

[-Deborah-]