May 4, 2018; Berea, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns rookies run through warm ups, including quarterback Baker Mayfield (orange jersey) during rookie minicamp at the Cleveland Browns training facility. Photo Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Cleveland Browns coach Hue Jackson has already anointed Tyrod Taylor as the team’s starting quarterback for the 2018 season, but that is not deterring top draft choice Baker Mayfield.
“Tyrod Taylor’s the starting quarterback of this football team, and that won’t change,” Jackson said Friday.
Mayfield, the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback from Oklahoma, is not treating Jackson’s words like gospel.
“I’m always competitive,” Mayfield said on Saturday, per Cleveland.com. “It wouldn’t matter what (Jackson) was saying in regards to the competition. I’m still going to compete and try and win that job. And so I’m going to listen to (Jackson), but I’ve got to go compete, and first and foremost, I’ve got to go learn my job.”
The 28-year-old Taylor was among a series of moves made by Cleveland in the offseason, acquired in a trade with the Buffalo Bills in March.
–The Browns signed three players taken in this year’s NFL Draft, the team announced Sunday.
The Browns signed offensive lineman Austin Corbett, a second-round choice out of Nevada, and sixth-round selections Damion Ratley and Simeon Thomas.
Corbett was Cleveland’s first pick (33rd overall) in the second round of the draft. He saw action at both tackle spots for Nevada, starting the final 48 games of his college career.
The 6-foot-4, 305-pound Corbett was a first-team All-Mountain West Conference selection at a senior, starting all 12 games.
–Rookie quarterback Lamar Jackson made an early impression on Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh, but the team’s incumbent starter has not touched base with the first-round draft pick.
While Harbaugh lavished praise on Jackson during Saturday’s rookie minicamp, the No. 32 overall pick in the NFL Draft acknowledged he has yet to hear from Ravens starting quarterback Joe Flacco.
“No, I haven’t. No I haven’t,” Jackson responded when reporters asked if Flacco has been in touch with him since Baltimore traded up to take him with the final pick in the first round.
The 2016 Heisman Trophy winner out of Louisville, Jackson offers a much more dynamic skill set than Flacco, passing for more than 3,500 yards and running for more than 1,500 in each of the final two college seasons.
The 33-year-old Flacco is coming off a sub-par season, throwing for 18 touchdowns against 13 interceptions while posting a career-worst 5.7 yards per attempt. Hampered by a back injury, Flacco completed 64.1 percent of 352 pass attempts for 3,141 yards.
–Chicago Bears top draft pick Roquan Smith is learning one of major negatives of the trappings of fame.
Smith, the No. 8 overall pick of the Bears in this year’s NFL Draft, had his University of Georgia jersey and helmet stolen, according to a posting by his aunt on social media.
Shaquwanda Baker wrote about the alleged theft of Smith’s equipment on her Twitter account on Saturday, along with a plea for anyone with information about the items to come forward.
“Dawg Nation my nephew Roquan Smith has worked sooo hard to play in his UGA jersey and helmet and to one day take it off and hang it on his wall,” Baker wrote. “However, over the past few hours, someone took that away from him by wrongfully taking those items from his property in Athens.”
Smith helped lead Georgia to the national championship game last season, winning the Butkus Award as the top linebacker in college football.
–The San Francisco 49ers had a simple reason for taking offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey with their top pick in this year’s NFL Draft.
The 49ers already have a premier left tackle in veteran Joe Staley, a six-time Pro Bowl selection who has started every game in seven of his 11 NFL seasons.
In taking McGlinchey with the No. 9 overall pick, San Francisco envisioned a perfect bookend for Staley — and his eventual successor at the position due to similar traits.
Perhaps the biggest commonality between the two is toughness. McGlinchey started all 25 games over his final two seasons at Notre Dame despite a broken hand and never missed a practice.
“I’m sure he has some injuries, but we haven’t seen it because he doesn’t talk about them, and he just plays,” 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said of McGlinchey, per the San Francisco Chronicle. “He’s a guy who shows up every practice, every week and that’s truly what we believe an O-lineman should do.”
–Veteran safety Michael Griffin, out of the NFL last year after 10 successful seasons in the league, will officially retire on Monday and he will do so as a member of the Tennessee Titans.
The Titans announced Sunday that Griffin will sign a one-day contract so that he can retire as a member of the team. Griffin joined the Titans as the 19th overall pick of the 2007 draft and spent nine seasons with the team.
He was selected to two Pro Bowls over that span and was voted a second-team All-Pro for his work during the 2010 season. His 25 interceptions are tied for eighth in franchise history and he also compiled 11 forced fumbles and seven sacks in his 141 games for Tennessee.
Griffin was released in February 2016 and signed with the Minnesota Vikings. He was released by Minnesota that September and wound up signing with the Carolina Panthers. He finished his career with 40 tackles in 13 games for the Panthers.
–Oakland Raiders second-round draft pick P.J. Hall, a defensive tackle from Sam Houston State, has agreed to a four-year deal, the team announced Sunday.
Hall is the career FCS leader in tackles for loss with 86.5. He will be a teammate with the previous record holder, linebacker James Cowser, who also plays for the Raiders. Cowser had 80 tackles for loss with Southern Utah.
Hall also had 42 sacks and nine forced fumbles during his career at Sam Houston State. His 14 blocked kicks with the Bearkats likely means the Raiders will also use Hall on their special teams unit.
–Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said he is not certain when All-Pro free safety Earl Thomas, who is seeking a new contract, will show up for the team’s offseason voluntary workouts.
“We’ll find out. We’ve got to communicate,” Carroll said after the Seahawks wrapped up a three-day rookie minicamp. “Phase 2 doesn’t look like it’s suiting him right now, so we’ll see, we’ll see what’s happening. Phase 3 is around the corner for us, so we’ll see. We’ve got one more week of Phase 2.”
Carroll’s comments were addressing a question about if he expects Thomas to sit out until participation becomes mandatory from June 12-14 during veteran minicamp.
Thomas is entering the final year of the four-year, $40 million extension he signed in 2014, which now ranks sixth among safeties in terms of annual average, according to Spotrac.com.
–The New York Jets have half of their six-man draft class under contract after signing two sixth-round picks — cornerback Parry Nickerson and defensive lineman Foley Fatukasi — to four-year deals on Sunday.
A third sixth-rounder, running back Trenton Cannon, signed his deal last Friday.
Nickerson, who had 18 interceptions in 48 games for Tulane, will challenge for a cornerback job behind Morris Claiborne and Trumaine Johnson during his rookie season.
Nickerson, who is 5’10” and ran a 4.32 40 at the NFL Scouting Combine, will work both outside and in the slot in practice, according to Jets coach Todd Bowles.
Fatukasi recorded 19 tackles for loss and 14 sacks over 48 games for Connecticut.
