The NFL's competition committee is taking a serious look at how the injury reports are put together and there is a good chance they end up proposing some tweaks to it by the owner's meetings in late March, sources said. They could be doing away with the "probable" designation entirely, sources said, and altering the language of what it constitutes to be "questionable" and "doubtful."
The move would be aimed at providing more clarity as to which players are truly in jeopardy of missing the next game, and to what degree, rather than have some players routinely listed as probable and always playing, and also trying to clean up the questionable tag, which tends to be something of a catch-all. Not sure there is much downside to it, and we'll see what the owners think if it comes to a vote. But the Competition Committee has invested some time and effort into possibly changing the process.
Patriots DC could be high on new Lions GM's list
It's awful early to start thinking about next year's coaching cycle, but if the Lions do not have a strong season Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia is going to be coveted there (and probably several other places as well). I continue to hear a buzz about him being very highly thought of by new Lions GM Bob Quinn, who came from New England. Quinn was empowered by a big contract for a rookie GM (averaging $2 million per year I'm told) and came on a little late this year.
Making a coaching move would have added much to an already full plate. Evaluating Jim Caldwell for the 2016 season always made the most sense, but I wouldn't look at this upcoming season as more than that, and if Quinn does make changes at the top, he will be looking to dip back into the New England pool with which he is so familiar.
Keep an eye on free agent Tyvon Branch
Chiefs safety Tyvon Branch is another under-the-radar free agent to watch. He played very good football last season and his play isn't all that different from that of Chiefs safety Eric Berry, who is very likely to get the franchise tag there. Berry's remarkable return from cancer cut into Branch's role there, but teams see the talent he has and he'll have plenty of suitors when the market opens.
Signing Penn would make sense for a lot of teams
Donald Penn's excellent work with the Raiders isn't going unnoticed, either. The left tackle is getting up there in age but with so few young tackles making a quick impact coming out of the draft in recent years, signing Penn to a deal amounts to two years -- wrapped in the cocoon of a longer-term deal -- is going to make sense for a lot of teams.
Solid left tackles are coveted, especially at a time when offensive line play around the league generally stinks. If the Bills franchise Cordy Glenn as expected, all the better for Penn's market.
Rams see Tavon Austin in their future
Rams general manager Les Snead spoke pretty glowingly of Tavon Austin and made it clear he wants the former top-10 pick to stick around there a while. Getting Michael Brockers locked-up to a long-term deal will be a priority as well. While much is being made about all of the salary cap money the Rams have, the lack of quality in this free agent class is a real factor.
A good chunk of those cap dollars will be sunk into emerging players already on that roster, and ultimately into keeping at least half of their starting secondary in Los Angeles, with both safeties and corners set to be free agents.
