Tavon Austin will miss the Rams‘ offseason program after undergoing surgery to repair ligament damage in his left wrist, Alden Gonzalez of ESPN.com reports. This is an arthroscopic procedure that will shelve the fifth-year player during Los Angeles’ OTAs/minicamp portion of the schedule, but Gonzalez notes Austin is expected to be ready for training camp. The slot receiver will be looking to bounce back from a down year, one that followed the $42MM extension signed last summer. Austin is expected to be a key component of Sean McVay‘s offense as he attempts to revive the league’s worst passing attack.
Here’s the latest from the NFC.
- The Redskins are continuing to search for a GM to succeed Scot McCloughan, but team president Bruce Allen isn’t expediting this process. “As far as what we are going to do, it hasn’t changed since March. We are going to be in the process of looking to see what we need to add to our personnel department to enhance the people that are here,” Allen said on a Daniel Snyder-owned radio station (via the team’s website), adding the Redskins plan to take their time while conducting this search. “There is some good quality people out there that’s available that we are talking to.” A report emerged earlier this week indicating Washington submitted a proposal to the NFL to restructure its front office without a GM. Allen denied that rumor, saying “there is no submission to the league on a form or anything like that.”
- Redskins exec Doug Williams saw an expanded role during the draft, and Jarrett Bell of USA Today makes a case the former Super Bowl MVP is a logical candidate for Allen to consider. A fourth-year staffer in the Redskins’ front office, Williams has not been interviewed for the job, Bell reports. Allen gave the 61-year-old Williams his first NFL executive job, doing so with the Buccaneers during the 2000s. Even if the Redskins opt to go without a GM, they must interview a minority candidate for the position to comply with the Rooney Rule, per Bell. Williams has served as a senior personnel executive in Washington. The former Redskins quarterback been mentioned as an internal candidate for this job and linked to promotion to another higher-level position with the Redskins. He served as the Bucs’ pro scouting coordinator from 2009-10 and was the Virginia Destroyers’ GM in the now-defunct United Football League following the Tampa Bay stay.
- Packers fourth-round pick Vince Biegel suffered a hand injury during rookie minicamp Friday that induced him to return Saturday with a club on the injured hand. However, Biegel said — via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com — he did not break any bones and was wearing the cast-like bandage as a precaution.
- The Panthers gave Olympic sprinter Marvin Bracy a tryout at their rookie minicamp, David Newton of ESPN.com notes. A 100-meter Olympian at the Rio Games and former United States 60-meter dash champion, the 23-year-old Bracy spent a year on the Florida State football team as a redshirt before leaving the program to focus on track. The latest in a line of recent Olympic sprinters or jumpers to be given NFL tryouts, joining Jeff Demps and Jeff Henderson in that regard, the 5-foot-9 Bracy has a 9.93-second 100-meter clocking to his credit.