New Lions receiver Golden Tate is enjoying the offense in Detroit, writes Robert Klemko of the MMQB. “The offense is kind of a feel offense. You feel your way around. Obviously there are rules and depths, but at the end of the day you’ve got to play football and just be an athlete…Coach Lombardi’s thing is to just put guys in different places and let them make plays. In Seattle we might have thrown 15-20 times a game so it made it hard to get off there. I prefer what we have in Detroit,” Tate said.
- Good news for Cardinals fans: the first prognosis on running back Andre Ellington‘s foot injury is that it’s a muscle injury, tweets Jay Glazer of FOX Sports. The team is still waiting on MRI results and a diagnosis from a foot specialist, however. If Ellington is sidelined, Jonathan Dwyer will presumably take the starting role with Stepfan Taylor and Robert Hughes in support.
- During last night’s pregame show, NBC’s Cris Collinsworth said that Julius Peppers was prepared to return to the Panthers before Packers came along with an offer he couldn’t refuse, writes Darin Gantt of Pro Football Talk. “He was getting ready to go to Carolina, thinking he’d just go home and finish his career there,” Collinsworth said. “Then the Green Bay Packers called and said, ‘How’d you like to be a stand-up, 3-4 outside linebacker?’ And he said, ‘I’ve been waiting my whole life to do that.’” Retaining Peppers became quite the longshot for Carolina once Green Bay offered up a three-year, $26MM deal.
- Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap has the specifics on Alex Boone‘s new deal with the 49ers. The total contract value is $6MM over two years with another $2MM available in incentives. Those incentives are tied to being selected to the Pro Bowl and named first team All-NFL.