New Ravens receiver Steve Smith Sr. is leading the Ravens in receptions and receiving yards and he’s happy to see fellow 35-year-old Reggie Wayne doing the same with the Colts, writes Aaron Wilson of The Baltimore Sun. “Yeah, I love that,” Smith said. “Reggie’s doing his thing, we’re from the same class. I think it’s awesome, man. I think it’s unbelievable and I think also when he went down with the knee injury, he comes back. You know, this is a young man’s game and you’ve got two older guys playing well. That’s great.” More from the AFC..
- Former judge Barbara S. Jones appears to be an ideal choice to serve as the hearing officer in the appeal of former Ravens running back Ray Rice, writes Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. In fact, Florio writes that she’s so ideal for the assignment that she probably should have been hired to be the independent investigator instead of Robert Mueller whose impartiality has been questioned.
- The usually guarded Bill Belichick promised comment on the reports that Aaron Dobson mouthed off to offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and he delivered one early this afternoon via the Patriots‘ website. “In my year and a half with Aaron Dobson, he has always been respectful to me and to the rest of the coaching staff. He has never once been argumentative or confrontational. The suggestion and reporting that his playing time was in any way the result of a ‘loud disagreement’ with a coach is completely false,” Belichick said in the statement.
- Dobson told Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald (Twitter links) that he went to Belichick when he heard about the report and the coach promised to release a statement and “kill the story.”
- In a perfect world, Raiders owner Mark Davis would be able to bring back Jon Gruden, but that doesn’t appear likely at this juncture. Oakland needs a seasoned, offensive-minded coach (the inverse of Dennis Allen) and Adam Schefter of ESPN.com suggests Darrell Bevell or Pat Shurmur as possible fits. Still, landing Gruden would be the crown achievement.
- The Ravens are devoting over 30 percent of their salary-cap toward their front seven, writes Aaron Wilson of The Baltimore Sun. Wilson gives the full breakdown of the salary cap by position and notes that they have $6.434MM available in salary cap space.