When asked about a report that he got into an altercation with left tackle Joe Staley, 49ers tight end Vernon Davis offered up a denial, as Eric Branch of The San Francisco Chronicle writes.
“I don’t recall that,” Davis said “I don’t know where that’s coming from. It’s funny to me. He’s been like a brother to me… We’ve had arguments in the past. My first year, I remember, I came here and we got into it. We got into right then and seconds later we were hanging out, laughing and drinking sodas together.”
While Davis claims the incident didn’t happen, several reporters have suggested that a skirmish between Staley and Davis arose after the tight end called out quarterback Colin Kaepernick in a players-only meeting. Here’s more on the Niners, along with a few other NFC teams:
- 49ers CEO Jed York and GM Trent Baalke should step up right now and squash the rumblings about Kaepernick’s future with the organization, Tim Kawakami of The Mercury News writes. Kawakami feels that the front office can put the QB’s mind at ease by saying that the Niners still plan on building around him, but the team yet to do so. The franchise also allowed speculation to run rampant over ex-coach Jim Harbaugh, whom some might say was San Francisco’s best coach in decades.
- In his latest piece for TheMMQB.com, former Packers executive Andrew Brandt examines a pair of NFC East defensive ends, writing that the Cowboys will be negotiating against themselves if they try to extend Greg Hardy, and suggesting that Jason Pierre-Paul‘s fireworks accident will likely end up costing him about $7-10MM in salary this season.
- When the Saints traded defensive lineman Akiem Hicks to New England for tight end Michael Hoomanawanui earlier this season, many pundits didn’t like the deal for New Orleans. However, as Larry Holder of the New Orleans Times-Picayune writes, Hoomanawanui has seen more playing time than Hicks on his new team, and has allowed the Saints to bring a new wrinkle to their offense, with multiple three-tight-end sets.
- The Saints tried out defensive back Brandon Dixon on Thursday, according to a source who spoke with Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk (Twitter link).
Zach Links contributed to this post.