As the Bills and Giants prepare to kick off the preseason in tonight’s Hall of Fame game, let’s take a look at some links from some of their fellow teams in the league’s east divisions:
- It will be difficult for Dolphins‘ running back Daniel Thomas to stay on Miami’s roster, writes Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald. Thomas is, of course, behind Lamar Miller and Knowshon Moreno on the team’s depth chart, but he has also lost his biggest advocate in former GM Jeff Ireland and Mike Gillislee has been more active in training camp.
- Rich Cimini of ESPNNewYork.com writes that the Jets received a $1.75MM salary cap credit this season as a result of an injury grievance settlement with former nose tackle Sione Po’uha. The team would have had a great deal of salary cap room even without the settlement, but now they have about $21MM of cap space.
- In the same piece, Cimini notes that the recent deals for 2011 first-round selections Tyson Smith and Patrick Peterson will not hurry the Jets in extension talks with their own 2011 first-rounder, Muhammad Wilkerson. A new deal for the big defensive lineman may not happen until next year.
- Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that Jets‘ LB Jermaine Cunningham, who the team hoped would provide pass-rush help in 2014, is believed to have torn his ACL, thus ending his season.
- The freshly-inked extensions for Tyson Smith and Patrick Peterson have proven to be useful fodder for beat writers from around the league. Ben Volin of the Boston Globe writes that those new deals have set the bar for key members of the Patriots‘ roster like Nate Solder and Darrelle Revis. Although Revis is technically under contract for the next two seasons, no one expects New England to pick up his $12.5MM option bonus for 2015, which would saddle the club with a $25MM cap hit. As such, Revis–assuming he stays healthy and productive–will be eyeing Peterson’s deal (as well as those recently signed by Richard Sherman and Joe Haden) as a benchmark for a new contract of his own. However, he will turn 30 next July and has a torn ACL in his past, so a “pay-as-you-go” deal like that signed by Sherman may be a more fitting option. Solder, meanwhile, is under contract for a more reasonable $7.44MM in 2015, so while an extension for him is not a top priority just yet, Smith’s new contract may guide negotiations if and when extension talks commence.
- Giants kicker Josh Brown knows that his spot on the team’s roster is far from guaranteed, writes Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post. His competition with Brandon McManus, who is 12 years his junior, begins in earnest tonight.
- John Keim of ESPN.com examines the Redskins roster battle at inside linebacker.