Sam Darnold signed a four-year deal with the Jets. Photo Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
York Jets rookie quarterback Sam Darnold signed a four-year, $30.25 million fully guaranteed contract, the team announced on Monday.
As with all first-round rookie contracts, the deal has a team option for a fifth season.
“What’s up Jets fans. Man, it’s a pleasure to be signed now,” Darnold said in a video posted by the team on Twitter. “I’m very excited, very special moment. Let’s do it. Jet up.”
Darnold, who was the third overall pick of the 2018 draft, had steered clear of Jets training camp due to language in the contract centering around forfeitures of guaranteed money, NFL Network’s Mike Silver reported Sunday.
The 21-year-old Darnold took the field for his first practice on Monday.
Darnold was listed as the team’s No. 3 quarterback on the depth chart following last month’s minicamp. Veteran Josh McCown is listed as the starter with Teddy Bridgewater as his backup.
–Monday was not a good day for the Green Bay Packers as two potential starters were carried off the field in carts because of injuries.
Safety Kentrell Brice has been working with the starters during preseason camp, but he sustained a leg injury during special teams drills that ended his day, Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com reported.
Later in the Packers’ practice, linebacker Jake Ryan was carted off after injuring his right leg, multiple media outlets reported.
Michael Cohen of The Athletics reported that Ryan grabbed his right knee and screamed in pain as teammates gathered around him.
Last season, Brice played in six games, including three starts, before suffering an ankle injury that required surgery in November.
Ryan, 26, started 12 of the 15 games in which he played last season.
–Carolina Panthers cornerback Ross Cockrell was carted off the field after sustaining a broken left leg during practice.
The team announced that Cockrell will undergo surgery after fracturing his left tibia and fibula. A timetable for his return was not revealed.
Cockrell was injured after colliding with wide receiver Torrey Smith during a drill. Joseph Person of the Charlotte Observer reported that Cockrell was screaming “my leg is broke” before being carted off.
–Oakland Raiders cornerback Gareon Conley missed most of his rookie season with a shin injury, and he is already behind this season because of a hip injury.
Conley, the Raiders’ first-round pick in 2017, has not participated in recent practices because of a hip strain, and Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Conley is expected to be out a couple more weeks.
The Raiders announced they signed undrafted free agent running back James Butler.
–Philadelphia Eagles coach Doug Pederson admitted to seeing a bit of pause from Carson Wentz as the quarterback works his way back from a torn ACL and LCL.
“A little hesitation,” Pederson told Peter King of NBC’s Football Morning in America. “I think that’s natural. It’s more about his head than his knee right now.”
Wentz, who was injured in a game against the Los Angeles Rams on Dec. 10, wore a brace on his left knee when he participated in 11-on-11 drills on Friday and Saturday. Wentz, however, was held limited to 7-on-7s and individual drills on Sunday.
–Kansas City Chiefs running back Charcandrick West has been diagnosed with a concussion and is in the league’s protocol.
West sustained the concussion after being hit in the head during Saturday’s practice.
The Chiefs didn’t offer a timetable for the return of the 27-year-old West, who had 18 carries for 72 yards and two touchdowns in 13 games last season. He also had 27 receptions for 150 yards and two scores.
–Cleveland Browns safety Jabrill Peppers and defensive end Chad Thomas were activated from the physically unable to perform list, the team announced.
Peppers was dealing with an ailing groin while Thomas was hindered by a hernia.
–Chicago Bears linebacker Roquan Smith is now the only unsigned 2018 draft pick, and part of the reason for the holdout involves language regarding the NFL’s helmet-contact rules, multiple media outlets reported.
The issue involves whether the team would be allowed to reclaim guaranteed money if Smith is suspended under the new helmet-contact rules.
Smith’s representatives want it written in the contract that the Bears could not take his guaranteed money if he is suspended under the new rule.
In response, according to the Tribune, the Bears told Smith’s agents that the team will be reasonable in evaluating its decision if Smith is punished under the new rule.
–The Indianapolis Colts signed free agent tackle J’Marcus Webb and waived-injured tackle Jared Machorro, the team announced.
The 6-foot-7, 331-pound Webb did not play in the NFL last year after being suspended by the league for the first four games of the 2017 season. ESPN reported that he was suspended for a violation of the league’s substance abuse policy.
However, he has made 64 starts in his seven pro seasons, having played for the Seattle Seahawks (2016), Oakland Raiders (2015), Kansas City Chiefs (2014), Minnesota Vikings (2013-14) and Chicago Bears (2010-12).
–The NFL has told Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to stop talking about the national anthem, according to a published report.
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Jones was scheduled to speak to several Dallas-area media outlets on Sunday, but told them that he would not answer questions about the anthem policy.
Jones said last week that the Cowboys will stand on the field during the national anthem this upcoming NFL season, going against a league policy on the issue.
“Our policy is you stand during the anthem, toe on the line,” Jones said.
–Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, who in 2015 signed a six-year deal worth worth $114 million, said Aaron Donald should get more.
“He deserves more than what I got,” the 31-year-old Suh told USA Today Sports. “It’s only right that he continues to play at a high level and prove that.”
For the record, Suh signed a one-year, $14 million deal in the offseason.
Donald, the 2017 Defensive Player of the Year, is holding out for his second straight training camp in a bid to get a new contract. He is slated to make $6.892 million on the fifth year of his rookie contract.
–Raiders linebacker Tahir Whitehead leveled an offseason hit on Dak Prescott after the Dallas Cowboys quarterback revealed his stance on protests during the national anthem.
Prescott said on Friday that he does not believe the anthem is the time or venue for a protest.
“I never protest,” Prescott told reporters at Cowboys training camp, via the Dallas Morning News. “I never protest during the anthem, and I don’t think that’s the time or the venue to do so.”
The following day, Whitehead expressed on social media that it appears Prescott is trying to avoid making waves in order to keep his endorsements.
“Sounds like Dak don’t wanna lose that Campbells Chunky Soup deal!” Whitehead wrote on Twitter.
Prescott’s deal with Campbell’s, which he signed in June, runs through 2020.
Whitehead, who signed a three-year deal with the Raiders in March, kneeled during the national anthem as a member of the Detroit Lions last year.
–Denver Broncos starting left tackle Garett Bolles left Monday morning’s practice after taking a blow to the chin and was evaluated for a head injury, multiple media outlets reported.
However, he was later medically cleared to take part in the team’s afternoon walkthrough, according to multiple reports.
Bolles was Denver’s first-round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, and he started all 16 games last season.
Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall also left practice after suffering a wrist injury, but coach Vance Joseph called Marshall’s injury “minor.”
Joseph said wide receiver Corey “Philly” Brown is officially in the concussion protocol after taking a shot to the head in a weight room accident.
–The Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Chargers reportedly are keeping tabs on free-agent cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport wrote that the Seahawks expressed interest in Rodgers-Cromartie as a means to bolster the depth at the position.
ESPN’s Josina Anderson said that the Chargers are “keeping DRC in mind” in the wake of Jason Verrett’s torn Achilles.
–A week after two former University of Tennessee football players were acquitted of rape, Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end Robert Ayers had some harsh words for the woman who made the accusations.
Responding to a tweet reporting that former Vols A.J. Johnson and Michael Williams were found not guilty, Ayers, a former Tennessee player, wrote, “Now she needs to be charged. Has to be some type of punishment for that nonsense or it’ll keep happening. Falsely accused that man of rape to ruin his life cause of hurt feelings. Lock her ass up. Plus it’s disrespectful to the real rape victims out there.”
