NFL Player News

If Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is suspended at the start of the season in the Deflategate scandal, one of the more interesting storylines would be the play of Jimmy Garoppolo.

Garroppolo, who was a rookie in 2014, has little game experience. However, Patriots wide receiver Brandon LaFell says he has confidence in the backup quarterback and says a year learning under Brady should suit him well.

"Jimmy has grown a lot since he first stepped foot up there in Foxborough last year," LaFell said, per ESPN. "He got a little experience during the later part of the season against Buffalo; he showed a little glimpse of what he can do. He’s been having a nice OTAs, a nice offseason with us.

"I feel like studying behind Tom has been great for him. If we have to be without Tom for the first couple games, I’m pretty sure Tom will be in Jimmy’s ear helping him prepare each and every way he can to go out here and lead this team. I think we have a great group of guys around him that will kind of take the pressure off Jimmy so he won’t have to feel like he has to go out there and win the game himself."

Quarterback Russell Wilson, whose contract status has developed into one of the offseason's major storylines, said that despite the issue with his deal, he still wants to remain with the Seahawks. 

"The rest will work out. The contract will work itself out. I'm excited about it and excited to hopefully be a Seattle Seahawk for a really, really long time," Wilson said during a football camp. "So, that's the goal."

Wilson is slated to play out the final year of his rookie contract in 2015, making $1.54 million, a figure wildly below market value for a player who has been to back-to-back Super Bowls. 

Buccaneers rookie quarterback Jameis Winston wants to use the offseason as an opportunity to lose weight and get into better shape, per NFL.com.

Winston will have a few weeks off as he prepares for training camp, so he will use that time to study his playbook and get into shape.

"Trying to lose some weight, try to get back skinny," Winston said, per NFL.com. "Right now I'm 238 (pounds), I'm trying to be my redshirt freshman year (weight), about 230. I mean, learn that playbook too, man, you can never go wrong with that."

Winston also added that he doesn't feel any extra pressure on himself because he was the top pick in the draft, or because of his previous off the field problems.

"I have nothing to prove," Winston said. "I believe that people make mistakes, but I also believe that you bounce back from those and I'm just moving forward."

The Bengals have signed free agent quarterback Keith Wenning, per the Cincinnati Enquirer.

The 2014 sixth-round pick of Baltimore spent all of his rookie season on its practice squad before he was released in May.

Wenning was a four-year starter at Ball State.

One of only a few knocks against Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford has been occasional inaccuracy. His penchant for throwing deep and taking chances on the field often results in incompletions.

But Stafford hit on 60.3 percent of his passes a year ago, the second-best rate of his career. And Jim Caldwell believes that will improve this year. His work in offseason practices have provided encouragement.

"He's improved," Caldwell told MLive.com. "He has a better feel for the system. You can see our timing's better, receivers have a better sense of the routes that they're running. All around I think we've made some improvement."

Caldwell added that he anticipates Stafford will improve his completion percentage in 2015.

Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson hopes he plays this season under a new, more lucrative contract. But caution has trumped hope.

Wilson confirmed that he has taken out an insurance policy in case he gets badly hurt during the final year of his rookie deal that will pay him a comparatively meager $1.5 million.

"That's just being smart," Wilson told the Tacoma News Tribune. "If I do have to play this season (without a new contract), that's just being smart. That's all that is, really. I think that's the right thing to do."

Wilson added that negotiations that extend into the season will not distract him from maximizing his performance. Pete Carroll can certainly see the possibility of talks taking place during the year.

"I don't care how long we keep working," he said. "Whatever it takes, to do the right thing. ... That's why we are working."

The Eagles have begun preliminary contract negotiations with quarterback Sam Bradford, sources told the NFL Network.

While the two sides have met a few times, no significant progress has been made. Bradford is set to enter the final year of his rookie contract and he can become a free agent after the 2015 season if no deal is reached. 

Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford, who is still recovering from a torn ACL sustained last preseason with the Rams, remains hopeful he'll be ready for team drills by the time training camp starts. 

If Bradford is not ready, then that would signal a disaster as far as he's concerned. 

"I think if I'm not ready for 11-on-11 by training camp, then I think something has gone terribly wrong," Bradford said, via the Philadelphia Inquirer. "That's the plan."

Bradford has been unable to operate in team drills during OTAs and minicamp. He has done some 7-on-7 work with reports indicating that Bradford has done fine when throwing the football. 

Bradford last took an NFL snap in 2013 when he tore his left ACL, the same one he tore again last preseason. 

The notion that one of the candidates for the starting quarterback job with the Texans would play himself out of the running this early has turned out to be a little far-fetched.

Both Brian Hoyer and Ryan Mallett have impressed Bill O'Brien, who is now hedging on his earlier claim that he might name a starter soon. He might be forced to wait beyond the beginning of training camp.

"These two guys are competing really well; they're very bright guys," O'Brien told the team website. "I think they've both had really good springs. ... [The starter] might be named next week. He might be named after the Redskins three days of practice. It might be after the San Francisco preseason game."

Without pads or contact drills, the evaluation process at quarterback is more difficult. O'Brien must rely on other qualities, such as grasping concepts at meetings, practice performance, leadership qualities, picking up the offense and decision-making. So far, it appears to be a dead-heat.

"I don't think there's a situation here where one guy has just been that much better on any given day than the other guy," O'Brien said. "They both practice very well. These guys command at the line of scrimmage. Both these guys know how to run an offensive huddle in pro football. They're leaders, so I think it's helped our team."

While Jets quarterback Geno Smith did not turn the ball over during Thursday's OTA session, coach Todd Bowles said Smith needs more consistency, reports ESPN.com.

"It's been up and down," Bowles said of Smith. "He makes good throws, he makes some bad throws. There has to be more consistency for the quarterbacks overall."

Smith is competing with Ryan Fitzpatrick for the starting quarterback job.