NFL Player News

Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford ranked 30th last year with a 58.5 percent completion rate. New coach Jim Caldwell is focused on raising that number significantly.

"Every single time you throw, you throw at a target," Caldwell said, per MLive.com. "I'm trying to hit your right ear, I'm trying to hit your left shoulder. Every single time, even when you're warming up. You work on your accuracy just constantly and you look at small targets. That's what gets you accustomed to being able to pinpoint your accuracy."

Caldwell said Stafford can be much more precise."He has the ability to do that," Caldwell said. "But the key is to be able to do it more consistently. That's what we're always striving for."

Ravens coach John Harbaugh confirmed the team wants to upgrade at backup quarterback. Tyrod Taylor is entering the final year of his contract and has never completed 60 percent of his passes in the preseason, notes ESPN.com.

"We've been very happy with Tyrod, and we feel like he has a great future, but we have been a little disappointed how he's played in games certainly," Harbaugh told the website. "We feel like he's a lot better than he's showed. I know he feels that way, too. We feel like Tyrod's best football is by far definitely in front of him, but he's only got one year left with us, so we need to add a quarterback into the mix, whether it be offseason or in the draft.”

The Texans are expected to draft a quarterback with the top overall pick in May's NFL draft. But whoever it is will have to compete for the job, so says head coach Bill O'Brien via the Houston Chronicle. 

"They've been told they're going to be given a shot to compete," O'Brien said of passers Ryan Fitzpatrick, T.J. Yates and Case Keenum. "They've all been told basically the same thing -- they're going to be given a shot to compete. We brought Fitzy in and had a good talk with him. We told him nothing's guaranteed, that he's being brought in to compete, to get better every day and try to be the starting quarterback. They all have starting experience. The deal is competition."

Bengals coach Marvin Lewis rallied for his quarterback Andy Dalton on Tuesday, specifically saying he deserved a contract extension. Dalton has improved statistically over three NFL seasons but has gone 0 for 3 in playoff appearances over three consecutive years. 

"It's something we hope we can do sooner than later because it's a big piece of our puzzle that is kind of holding out there nebulous right now," Lewis said of signing Dalton to an extension, per the official website. "So we'd like to get it done where it makes sense for us and makes sense for him and we can preserve a small portion of the football team to go forward."

Lewis said Dalton deserved a contract extension on the merits of his play and growth so far. 

"What he's accomplished has been great ... We want to continue to grow with him," Lewis said. "He's got all the work ethic and the dynamics of why we drafted him to begin with, so that hasn't changed. All he's done is made good on everything we thought he would. One player doesn't lose a playoff game ... we feel like we have a great young player in Andy, we are hopeful we can get a deal done that works and Andy can put it behind him. ... He doesn’t have to go into the season and worry about this contract thing."

Dolphins coach Joe Philbin said Tuesday at the NFL owners meetings he has three things he wants to see from quarterback Ryan Tannehill in his third season in 2014. 

Philbin wants Tannehill to play faster, be more accurate and limit turnovers.

"Just continued development," Philbin said. "We want to see the play speed continue to get better. We think we saw the development from Year 1 to Year 2. We want to see the accuracy continue to get better. There was some progress in his completion percentage. And we want to see the interceptions go down."

Philbin said the addition of offensive coordinator Bill Lazor should help Tannehill improve based on Lazor's background, which includes working with Nick Foles in Philadelphia in 2013.

"He told me he would be at least the third-highest quarterback rating in history like Nick Foles," Philbin said of Lazor working with Tannehill. "That’s a joke. Anyway, Bill has a lot of experience working with quarterbacks. ... He’s been around a lot of different ways to do it. He’s played quarterback himself. He’s worked with a lot of different guys. What I’m interested in with Bill is increased play speed, increased accuracy and cut down on the turnovers."

Jets coach Rex Ryan said the starting quarterback job will be an open competition between Michael Vick and Geno Smith. "We want that competition," he said. "We'll let it all play out."

Ryan stressed he's seeking competition at every position, not just quarterback. He said Smith will be hard to beat out, but raved about Vick's mobility.

"He's an unusual guy," Ryan said of Vick. "He was unusual when he came out of the league because of how athletic he was but I think he's definitely still … you see all that athleticism he has. He can still run, moves well in the pocket, he's more accurate when throwing from the pocket than he used to be when he came into the league.

"He's got a big arm and can still run so very dangerous. I like the fact that both those guys give us the ability to run zone reads and all those types of things that help your running game. Having a guy, that mobile quarterback, is harder to defend then maybe a guy who's a stationary pocket guy.

"That being said, I'd probably rather defend a mobile quarterback than a Peyton Manning or Tom Brady."

Browns general manager Ray Farmer admitted the team considered trading for quarterback Matt Schaub before the Raiders acquired him, reports the Akron Beacon Journal. However, Farmer insisted he's "comfortable" with Brian Hoyer entering the season.

Cleveland still is expected to draft a quarterback at Nos. 4 or 26 overall.

Bengals president Mike Brown said the team will try to negotiate a contract extension with quarterback Andy Dalton, who's entering the final year of his rookie deal. "We are going to try to get something done but I don’t know if we are going to be able to or not," Brown told the team's website.

Dalton has led Cincy to three straight playoff berths before flopping in the postseason each time.

Jets quarterback Geno Smith called the team's signing of Michael Vick "awesome," reports the Associated Press. "We needed to find a guy that was legitimately a guy that could come in and play. I think that's what we did," Smith said. "Mission accomplished."

Smith said the competition will benefit everyone.

"It's just good to have a guy to compete with like Mike," Smith said. "We're going to compete. We're not going to say, 'Hey, you're the starter.' And we'll leave it at that. We want to get better.

"I love it. It's really making everyone work harder and keep you right on your toes because you don't have a moment to be satisfied or just say, 'I've arrived.' You've got to continue to work at it."

Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson likes new backup quarterback Jason Campbell, but he said Campbell isn't a threat to starter Andy Dalton's job.

Campbell was a starter for the Raiders when Jackson coached there.

"In no way is he supplanting Andy Dalton. I like our quarterback," Jackson said. "But Jason is a veteran guy who has played in a lot of offenses and has won a lot of games. I think he can help Andy with some of the knowledge that he's picked up. He's that kind of guy. You've got a guy in Jason where things haven't gone all that well for him lately and you've got a guy in Andy that has done well but is still trying to find a way to win in the playoffs. Between the two of them there can be some things gained there."