NFC Notes: Saints, Seahawks, Lions, 49ers

The Saints cut Brandon Marshall on Wednesday, but head coach Sean Payton says New Orleans could still re-sign the veteran wideout, tweets Nick Underhill of the Advocate. Marshall, 34, has miraculously never made a postseason appearance during 13-year NFL career, but that could change if he ends up back with the Saints. Meanwhile, another mid-30s pass-catcher might be close to returning to the field in New Orleans, as Payton told reporters Ted Ginn Jr. could be nearing activation. Ginn, who underwent knee surgery in October, is reportedly one of two candidates under consideration to be activated from the Saints’ injured reserve list, the other being offensive lineman Josh LeRibeus.

Here’s more from the NFC:

• The Seahawks will likely have interest in re-signing linebacker Mychal Kendricks after he serves a sentence for insider trading, according to Brady Henderson of ESPN.com (Twitter link). “He wants to be part of this thing so badly, but he doesn’t get to this time around,” head coach Pete Carroll said of Kendricks after the latter was placed on injured reserve earlier this week. “We’ll look forward to getting him back next time and keep him with us.” Kendricks will face sentencing in January, but as Henderson notes, Carroll’s comments could be an indication Seattle doesn’t expect Kendricks to serve a lengthy term. Technically, Kendricks could be facing 30-to-37 months in prison.
• Ezekiel Ansah has likely played his final down for the Lions after going on IR Tuesday, writes Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com. Ansah, 29, played the 2018 campaign under a one-year, $17.1MM franchise tag, but it’s extremely unlikely Detroit will use that tender again next season. While he’s historically been limited by nagging injuries, Ansah typically didn’t miss many games until this year, when he’s only managed seven appearances. Ansah may need to take a one-year, pillow contract in 2019 to re-establish his value, but it doesn’t seem like that deal will come from the Lions.
• The 49ers are already armed with the eighth-most projected cap space in 2019, and they could create even more by parting ways with several veterans this offseason, per Matt Barrows of The Athletic. Sunday was a pointed example of exactly which aged players could be on the chopping block: wideout Pierre Garcon missed a fourth consecutive game with injury, while linebacker Malcolm Smith and defensive tackle Earl Mitchell saw their snaps either reduced or eliminated altogether. With their quarterback of the future already locked into a long-term deal, San Francisco could spend the upcoming offseason re-tooling other parts of its roster.