Former Saints running back C.J. Spiller told ESPN.com’s Josina Anderson that he was surprised by his release earlier today, but he insisted that he was leaving the organization on good terms.
“This organization really believed in me during free agency,” Spiller told Anderson (via Zac Jackson of ProFootballTalk.com). “They gave me another opportunity when my contract was up in Buffalo. I have nothing but good relationships that I have built here. It’s a first class organization that gives the players everything they need to be successful. So, I definitely don’t have any hard feelings.
“Now, I’m just going to wait for the next right opportunity. I still have a lot of football left in me. I’m pretty sure in the ext day or so, me and my agent will start getting in to it.”
Let’s check out some more notes from around the NFL…
- Following the release of Spiller, the Saints now have $40MM of dead money on their 2016 salary cap, tweets ESPN’s Field Yates. Meanwhile, Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com notes that Spiller’s contract included offset language, so the team “will get credit for the first $1.6 million he earns in 2016 salary elsewhere.”
- Vikings coach Mike Zimmer acknowledged that quarterback Shaun Hill did well during Sunday’s win over the Titans, but he added (via Vikings.com) that the team is taking the quarterback situation “one week at a time.” It’s uncertain if the coaching staff is leaning towards Hill or Sam Bradford for this weekend’s game against the Packers.
- After being inactive for the Dolphins‘ first game of the season, running back Jay Ajayi may have an opportunity to redeem himself. Coach Adam Gase said the second-year player is starting with a clean slate heading into the second week of the season. “We’re back to basically [where] he’s back in meetings, he’s back in the building,” Gase said (via ESPN.com’s James Walker). “We left him back. That was my decision and we’ve cleaned that up. We’ll move past that and basically this is a new day for him today.”
- Linebacker Josh Bynes‘ injury settlement with the Lions is for four weeks, a source tells PFR (Twitter link). As such, Bynes wouldn’t be able to re-sign with Detroit until late October, given that he’s required to sit out for the duration of the settlement plus an additional three weeks. Those stipulations only apply to a potential reunion with the Lions, as Bynes an sign with another club at any time.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Cutting Spiller will not reduce the slippage. He was the heart and soul of the team providing veteran leadership, especially on second downs.