Chargers cut linebacker Kendricks in cap-related move
The Chargers released veteran linebacker Eric Kendricks on Tuesday, the first of what figures to be several roster moves as they contend with significant salary cap issues. By cutting Kendricks, the Chargers will gain $6.5 million in cap savings, according to the website overthecap.com.
The Chargers are roughly $19 million over the cap, with an NFL-mandated deadline of March 13 to get under the record-high figure of $255.4 million for next season. Other cap casualties could include wide receivers Keenan Allen and Mike Williams and edge rushers Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack.
Those four standouts each have a cap hit of $32 million or more for 2024, led by Mack at $38,517,500. Speculation has centered on the likelihood that the Chargers would give Allen a contract extension, release Williams and trade Mack before the deadline and the start of free agency March 13.
Allen, who turns 32 next month, topped 10,000 yards receiving for his career this past season. Williams, 29, and Bosa, 28, were sidelined by injuries for significant portions of the 2023 season. Mack, 33, set a career high with 17 sacks this past season and topped 100 for his Hall of Fame-caliber career.
Releasing Kendricks was the first player personnel move made by new Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz, who was hired Jan. 30 to replace Tom Telesco, and coach Jim Harbaugh, who was hired Jan. 24 to replace Brandon Staley.
Kendricks, a standout at UCLA who played eight seasons with the Minnesota Vikings before signing a two-season, $13.25-million contract with the Chargers last year, was a defensive team captain. He also was the Chargers' secondleading tackler with 117, including 79 solo, during the 2023 season.
— Elliott Teaford • Running back Saquon Barkley moved another step closer to free agency when the New York Giants elected not to put a franchise tag on the second overall pick in the 2018 draft.
The Giants used the tag last season and eventually worked out a one-year, $10.1 million contract. A franchise tag this year would have cost the team $12.2 million if Barkley accepted the offer.
The 27-year-old Barkley, is looking for a multi-year deal.
Barkley played in 14 games last season, missing three because of a high ankle sprain. He ran for 962 yards and six touchdowns and had 41 catches, including four TDs.
Since joining the Giants, Barkley has run for 5,211 yards and 35 touchdowns. The Penn State product also has 288 receptions for 2,100 yards and 12 TDs.
• The Seattle Seahawks' remodel under new coach Mike Macdonald started as the team released safeties Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs, and tight end Will Dissly in moves that will give the team a boost of salary cap space.
The release of Diggs and Dissly will save Seattle $18 million against the cap. They will get about $6 million in cap relief with the release of Adams.
• The Indianapolis Colts placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on receiver Michael Pittman Jr.
Under the tag, Pittman can test the free agent market by negotiating with other teams. If he comes to an agreement, the Colts can match the offer. If they choose not to match it, they will receive two first-round draft picks from Pittman's new team.
Indy drafted the former Oaks Christian and USC star in the second round of the 2020 draft and he has started 56 of 62 games. He has 336 receptions for 3,662 yards and 15 TDs during his career and last season became the fourth player in Colts history to catch 100 passes in a single season.
He finished with 109 catches for 1,152 yards and four TDs in 2023.
Halep wins appeal, cleared to return
Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep was cleared for an immediate return to tennis after sports' highest court accepted she was not entirely at fault for her positive doping test.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport said its judges partially upheld Halep's appeal and reduced her four-year ban to just nine months. It was applied retroactively and expired last July.
The three judges decided Halep “established on the balance of probabilities” her positive test for a banned blood-boosting substance “entered her body through the consumption of a contaminated supplement.”
The judges also awarded Halep $22,650 toward her legal fees from the International Tennis Integrity Agency which prosecuted her and asked for a six-year ban.
Halep has not played since the 2022 U.S. Open, where she tested positive for the banned bloodbooster roxadustat.
She had been serving a ban that would have exiled her from tennis until October 2026 after she turned 35.
She won Wimbledon in 2019, beating Serena Williams in the final, and the 2018 French Open.