NFL Player News

Colts running back Dan Herron signed his exclusive rights tender on Wednesday, according to the Herald Bulletin. Herron started three of 16 games for the Colts in the regular season, and all three postseason games. The 26-year-old rushed for 351 yards and one touchdown on 78 carries. He rushed for 170 yards on the ground in the postseason.

After visiting wth the Bears on Tuesday, running back Jacquizz Rodgers has signed a one-year contract with the team, according to NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport.

Rodgers, formerly with the Falcons for four seasons, has totaled 1,116 yards rushing, 1,104 yards receiving and 10 total totuchdowns in his career. 

Broncos coach Gary Kubiak declared that C.J. Anderson was the team's starting running back entering OTAs. 

"He made a big jump as a player, and I think he's earned the right to walk in to the offseason program -- the OTAs -- and line up as our starter," Kubiak said, per DenverBroncos.com. "But he's got to continue to earn it on a daily basis. I think he's shown he has all the ability to be an excellent starter in this league, so we're really looking forward to working with him."

Anderson rushed for 849 yards and eight touchdowns last season, most coming late in the season, after Montee Ball and Ronnie Hillman went down to injury. 

"All those guys are young. I think all three of those guys ... have all kind of had their little spurts of success with the club when they've had their opportunity," Kubiak said. "But they're all young. Who's going to be the bell cow, who's going to play every down, who's going to be the three-down player, they've got to sort that out. C.J. has shown the flashes of doing that."

Redskins coach Jay Gruden said this week at the NFL owners' meetings running back Chris Thompson will get the first chance to secure third-down responsibilities, according to The Washington Post. Silas Redd will also get consideration for the role of third-down back.

“Chris [Thompson] came in last year at the end and did some things, and we’re hoping that he can come back and stay healthy in the offseason and give us a little jolt back there,” Gruden said. “And Silas Redd will get every chance to do some things also.”

Although, the Redskins could look to bring in some competition before training camp begins.

“I also think that at the running back position in the draft, there’s a ton of them,” Gruden said. “It’s a very deep running back draft in my opinion, and we’re excited to add another piece at some point, hopefully. We have seven picks. Hopefully one of them will be a running back, or a free agent to compete. There are some good free agents that haven’t been signed yet. But, giving Chris an opportunity, Silas, Alfred (Morris), that’s where it starts. And we’ll add some more later on for competition.”

Giants running back Shane Vereen is being viewed as much more than just a third-down running back, according to nj.com.

The team is excited about his ability to catch passes out of the backfield, but he'll be relied on to do more than that.

"I see him in that regard as a pass receiver coming out of the backfield, a pass protector, a guy who runs the ball in the three-wide offense in the run game, if you will, which is very prevalent today in our sport," coach Tom Coughlin said at the NFL Annual Meetings this week. "So I see him in that regard."

Last season the Giants did not have one receiving touchdown by a running back. Vereen, formerly of the Patriots, had three receiving touchdowns out of the backfield last year.

"Well, you know what [Vereen] can do. Quite frankly, it's something from an attack standpoint we've had some success with, but not to the extent that he has," Coughlin said. "When you look at Vereen, a lot of the [Tom] Brady hookup with Vereen was the ball was almost automatically going to him. First down, if it was zone coverage, they were dropping the ball down and he would scoot. So we know that. Will we open it up to more parts of it?"

The 26-year-old has 907 yards rushing and seven touchdowns on the ground, adding 107 receptions for 1,023 yards and seven touchdowns through the air in four years. 

Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said the team traded running back LeSean McCoy to the Bills and replaced him with DeMarco Murray because Murray better fits Chip Kelly's system, reports Eagles 24/7.

"We’ve been talking about the asset value of LeSean for a long time because he wasn’t the style of runner that Chip prefers, but a great player," Lurie said.

"Getting players that fit more of what he’s all about in terms of their style of play. LeSean McCoy is a great running back -- all-time franchise leader. Great guy in every way. To maximize his power spread offense, he’s always admired the one-cut runners. That’s what he admired.

"You’ve gotta let a coach try to bring in the players that fit best what he’s all about to maximize what he’s trying to accomplish. It really boils down to that. You have a decision as an owner: Do you want to fight that? Or do want to adopt it? I went all out to try and get Chip as the coach, and I’m really happy we did. He’s got a great potential future, and I’m happy to be able to provide him the resources to be able to maximize what he’s all about."

The Eagles also signed running back Ryan Mathews in free agency, who is closer in style to Murray than McCoy.

Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio expects Latavius Murray and Trent Richardson to compete for the starting running back spot on the team, per ESPN.

"I think it will be a competitive situation," Del Rio said.

Del Rio also spoke about the fact that he is encouraged by Richardson's potential.

"What I saw when we brought him in and talked to him was a young man that was hungry to kind of leave that portion of his career behind him and start fresh," Del Rio said. "My challenge to him was, 'Look, I don't want you to worry about anything other than coming in here and competing your butt off every day. Come in here and be a great teammate. Come in here and find a role on special teams. Come in here and just grind every day with the hunger you had as a freshman at Alabama.'"

After losing running back Ryan Mathews to free agency, Chargers head coach Mike McCoy believes that Branden Oliver can be a workhorse back for the team, per ESPN.

“Ryan was very unique,” McCoy said. “He’s different than what we have now. But as that physical guy, yes, you can say Branden is that physical guy we have now.”

Oliver, an undrafted free agent in 2014, led the Chargers in rushing last season with 582 yards rushing and three touchdowns. He was named Pepsi AFC offensive rookie of the week twice last year. 

McCoy went on to say that Oliver will benefit from the return of Danny Woodhead and teammate Donald Brown in 2015. Both players missed time in 2014.

“We can win with the three guys we have now,” McCoy said. “I believe that. We’re going to play them all. So, they’re all going to play in their own way, and we’ll see what happens through the draft and the rest of free agency with what’s available.”

The 23-year-old ball carrier signed a four-year contract with the team last season.

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer is keen on wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson. So much so, he doesn't want to get rid of Patterson via trade, according to NBC Sports Radio.

"No, no chance whatsoever," Zimmer said. "Cordarrelle is a young, emerging player who was with his third coordinator in three years. Quite frankly, we need to do a good job of figuring out how we can use him better and he needs to understand where he's supposed to be, the routes and everything."

Patterson struggled in 2014 with just 33 catches for 384 yards.

"He's going to play good football for us," wide receivers coach George Stewart said in December. "He's a first-round pick for a reason, and he's going to be very successful for us going forward."

In Raiders coach Jack Del Rio's mind, quarterback Derek Carr was asked to do too much in his rookie season. 

Carr threw the ball 599 times and completed 348 of those passes for 3,270 yards, 21 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Now that Del Rio is at the helm, he's looking to run the ball a lot more to balance things out. 

"I thought it was all about Derek last year," Del Rio said, via the San Francisco Chronicle. "I want to be able to run the ball, play good defense."

The Raiders are likely to rely on Latavius Murray to be the feature back now that Maurice Jones-Drew has retired and Darren McFadden has left for Dallas. Del Rio believes that a balanced attack should open the game up more for Carr in his second season. 

"If we do things around him, he really has a chance to flourish," Del Rio said. "He is really accurate. He has a huge upside."