HEADLINES

Eric Wright

NFC West Notes: Seahawks, 49ers, Lloyd

June 18th, 2014 at 8:01pm CST by Ben Levine

Even with news (via a tweet from The Seattle Times’ Bob Condotta) that they’d be receiving their Super Bowl rings following Thursday’s practice, things got a bit heated at Seahawks minicamp this afternoon.

As Condotta writes in his Seahawks blog, the fracas began when wideout Bryan Walters hurt his shoulder after attempting a diving catch. Safety Earl Thomas was covering the play, and while Condotta didn’t have a clear view on the amount of contact, Seattle’s offensive players seemed to think it was a dirty hit.

The two teams jawed at each other before lining up for another play. While running down field, wide receiver Phil Bates and cornerback Richard Sherman got locked up and the fists came out. Bates appeared to have thrown a punch before the players were broken up. Thomas and receiver Doug Baldwin continued to jaw at each other while Percy Harvin had to be held back by Marshawn Lynch.

Practice soon resumed, and (perhaps intentionally) Pharrell Williams’ song “Happy” was soon heard playing.

Defensive coordinator Dan Quinn had an explanation:

“They are such a tight group of guys that they don’t want to give an inch sometimes, both offensively and defensively. Most good teams are close and tight like that where they can practice like that. They were just having fun.”

Fun…that sounds about right. Let’s check out other news from the NFC West:

  • Seahawks tackle Russell Okung has left Authentic Athletix and is believed to be without an NFL agent at present, tweets Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal.
  • 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh says the 49ers are unlikely to fill their 90th roster spot until after minicamp, tweets Matt Barrows of The Sacramento Bee. San Francisco had a spot open up after the retirement of Eric Wright.
  • 49ers wideout Brandon Lloyd kept busy during his season off and rarely thought about football. However, when he came across the opportunity to join the team that drafted him in 2003, it was something that Lloyd couldn’t refuse. “It was more about getting to play with the 49ers again, and the opportunity to win, and maybe bring a certain amount of closure to my career,” he told Lindsay H. Jones of USA Today. “I don’t think there was anything that I was pushing hard for. The opportunity presented itself to me.”

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Eric Wright To Retire

June 17th, 2014 at 6:12pm CST by Luke Adams

6:12pm: The 49ers announced that Wright has retired, tweets Adam Caplan of ESPN.com.

3:49pm: Vernon Davis and Alex Boone weren’t the only players absent from the 49ers’ mandatory minicamp today. Eric Wright was also an unexpected no-show, with head coach Jim Harbaugh telling reporters, including Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee (Twitter link), that the veteran defensive back was contemplating retirement. Now, Mike Garafolo of Fox Sports (Twitter link) confirms that Wright has indeed opted to end his playing career, and will officially file the paperwork to retire today.

Wright, 28, played for the Browns, Lions, Buccaneers, and Niners over the course of his seven-year NFL career, appearing in 92 games overall (81 starts). The former second-round pick was a full-time starter in his early years in Cleveland, enjoying arguably his best season in 2008, when he intercepted three passes, recovered three fumbles, and ranked as a top-10 cornerback according to Pro Football Focus’ metrics (subscription required).

Since signing a massive five-year deal with the Bucs in 2012 though, Wright has battled injuries and seen his playing time decline. In 2013, he appeared in just seven contests for the Niners as depth in the secondary. The UNLV product hadn’t been expected to play a major role for the club in 2014, but we’ll have to wait and see whether the team brings in another defensive back to compete for a roster spot in his absence.

Wright had been slated to earn a base salary of $855K in what would have been the final year of his contract.

NFC Contract Details: Quarless, Collins, Saffold

March 13th, 2014 at 6:02pm CST by Luke Adams

We rounded up a handful of AFC contract details earlier this afternoon. Now, let’s turn our attention to the NFC:

  • Andrew Quarless‘ two-year contract with the Packers is worth $3MM in total, tweets Tom Pelissero of USA Today. The base salaries are $800K and $1.3MM, while the remaining money is made up of a $350K signing bonus, $200K in per-game roster bonuses, and $75K in annual workout bonuses.
  • Pelissero tweets that only $9MM of Anthony Collins‘ five-year deal with the Bucs is fully guaranteed at signing, which is $6MM less than what was reported earlier. I’m guessing that $6MM is guaranteed for injury only.
  • Although Rodger Saffold‘s new five-year contract with the Rams is worth $31.7MM, it can max out at $35MM+, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter).
  • Willie Young‘s three-year contract with the Bears includes a $1MM roster bonus and $150K in workout bonuses, tweets Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times.
  • Meanwhile, the Bears‘ signing of Ryan Mundy has the club on the hook for a two-year, $3MM contract, with $650K guaranteed, says Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune (all Twitter links). That $650K guarantee comes in the form of a roster bonus, while the pact includes base salaries of $800K (2014) and $1.45MM (2015), plus workout bonuses of $50K annually.
  • Eric Wright‘s one-year contract with the 49ers sounds like a minimum salary benefit deal, according to Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com (Twitter link). For a player with Wright’s experience, that’s an $855K base salary to go along with a $20K reporting bonus and another $25K if he makes the team.
  • Joe Berger‘s one-year deal with the Vikings is worth $920K, with a $65K signing bonus, according to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (via Twitter). That makes it a minimum salary benefit contract too.
  • Anthony McCoy will have a base salary of $950K on his one-year contract with the Seahawks, tweets KJR’s Curtis Crabtree.