NFL Player News

The Bengals and quarterback Andy Dalton reached agreement on a six-year, $115 million contract, reports ESPN. Dalton was entering the last year of his rookie contract.

Bills quarterback Jeff Tuel jumped over Thad Lewis in the depth chart for the second-team quarterback. He relieved starter EJ Manuel during Sunday's preseason opener against the Giants.

Tuel hooked up with Robert Woods for a two-yard strike in the second quarter. He was also intercepted by Cooper Taylor in the final minute of the first half. He completed 12 of 17 passes for 74 yards, with one touchdown and one interception.

Lewis took over for Tuel after halftime and completed 9 of 14 passes for 81 yards, with no touchdowns and one interceptions.

Rams quarterback Sam Bradford is noticeably bigger in his upper body thanks to a rehab in which he couldn't work out much else, reports ESPN.com. Bradford, coming off knee surgery, suggested his arm might be stronger, and his passes seem "to be coming out with as much or more velocity than in years past," the report said.

On Saturday, "Bradford had plenty of zip on all of his passes, none more than the perfectly thrown 60-plus yard touchdown pass he threw to receiver Kenny Britt." 

"Coming into this camp is probably the strongest I’ve been from the waist up and I think it probably has paid off a little bit," Bradford said. "I feel like I do have a little more zip on the ball and feel like I can make some of those throws that maybe were a little slower last year."

Browns rookie quarterback Johnny Manziel went 3 for 11 with an interception in Friday's practice, reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Manziel also drew an unsportsmanlike conduct flag after he ran for a touchdown and tossed the ball between the goalposts.

Quarterback Brian Hoyer completed 7 of 13 passes, with several completions coming on checkdowns, the paper said. Hoyer remains the favorite to start the season opener.

Rams coach Jeff Fisher told the media Thursday that the most impressive part of Sam Bradford's training camp thus far isn't just that he's back on the field after tearing an ACL, but that the passing game has become much more explosive. 

"We are getting a lot more explosive plays," Fisher explained. "Sam's throwing the ball real well. The balls going down the field on time to Kenny (Britt) and to (Brian) Quick and to Tavon (Austin) and Cookie (Jared Cook) and all the guys. ... Now, before you put the shoulder pads on there's a lot of congestion in the pocket, but now the pocket's starting to clean itself up because offense has pads on things are starting to even out a little bit, so we're getting time to make those throws."

Before getting hurt in 2013 Bradford averaged 241.0 passing yards and two touchdowns per game. 

Jets quarterback Geno Smith took all 16 of the first-team reps Thursday, while Michael Vick got none, reports the New York Post. Until Thursday, Smith has been getting about 75 percent of the first-team snaps.

"I told [offensive coordinator] Marty (Mornhinweg) and Marty knows I understand that look, we have a certain mission to accomplish and we’ve got to get things going, we’ve got to get on the right track and I understand that. I won’t stand in the way of that," Vick told the paper.

Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton is entering a contract year in 2014, but he's not sweating it. Dalton told NFL Network that he's "confident" a new deal will get done. 

"[B]oth sides are working on it," Dalton said. "We haven't given a deadline, we haven't talked about a deadline. We don't expect it to get to that point, but if it does, it does."

Last week Bengals owner Mike Brown called Dalton the "quarterback here for the immediate future," adding that he'd use the franchise tag if need be to keep Dalton. 

Vikings quarterbacks Matt Cassel and Teddy Bridgewater are likely to get the bulk of the snaps moving forward, reports ESPN.com. That means Christian Ponder will get fewer reps.

"You can't work three [quarterbacks] for a long time, so the reps will get divided up differently," Turner said.

Turner added preseason games will factor "heavily" into the team's decision on a starter.

Lions coach Jim Caldwell said he's impressed with quarterback Matthew Stafford's approach so far, especially the way he's been absorbing the playbook and paying attention to detail.

"He is getting better," Caldwell told the Detroit News. "His command of the offense has been good."

Caldwell said it was obvious how much work Stafford put in before coming to camp. "I was impressed when he came back that first of all he did not miss a beat," Caldwell said. "He’s a very, very smart guy. You could tell he’s worked at it even during the summer.

"In every facet when he came back, I could see improvement — footwork, accuracy, timing, command of the offense, all of those things. Now we get a chance to see if we can put it together a little bit more, add a few more things, keep progressing and then get some real challenges from our opposition as we start preseason."

Veteran quarterback Matt Cassel and rookie Teddy Bridgewater are "pretty much splitting reps" in Vikings' training camp, reports Fox Sports' Jay Glazer. Bridgewater might not start Week 1, "but he's definitely been more impressive than they expected," Glazer added.