Ravens’ Flacco ready to return after 9-month knee rehab
CLEVELAND » Barkevious Mingo never really fit in with the Browns.
The Patriots will try to find an ideal spot for him.
A major disappointment in Cleveland, Mingo, the No. 6 overall pick in the 2013 draft was traded to New England on Thursday.
The Browns received a fifth-round pick in the 2017 draft for the linebacker.
Mingo, a former LSU standout, has recorded just seven sacks in three seasons and spent much of last season on special teams.
Mingo’s size — 6-foot-4, 240 pounds — and speed have made him intriguing, but Cleveland’s coaching staff couldn’t find the best way to utilize him. The Browns moved the 25-yearold Mingo from outside linebacker to inside earlier this summer.
Cleveland declined to exercise the fifth-year option on Mingo’s rookie contract in May. With the trade of Mingo, left tackle Joe Thomas and cornerbacks Joe Haden and Justin Gilbert are the only first-round selections by Cleveland from 2007 to 2014 that are still with the team.
The Browns now own Philadelphia’s 2017 firstround pick, Tennessee’s 2017 second-round pick, New England’s 2017 fifth-round pick, Indianapolis’ 2017 seventh-round pick and Philadelphia’s 2018 second-round pick. Cleveland has conditionally surrendered its 2017 fourth-round pick to Philadelphia and its 2017 sixthor seventh-round pick to San Francisco.
It is the second move New England has made this week after dealing center Bryan Stork to Washington.
While the Browns have had trouble finding somewhere to play Mingo, he has shown a diverse skillset while getting 97 tackles and seven sacks in 46 games.
The Patriots don’t have a great deal of depth behind veteran linebackers Dont’a Hightower, Jaime Collins and Jonathan Freeny, so Mingo could possibly make an impact there.
There’s also an opportunity for him on the outside, with two of the Patriots’ pass rushers that were projected to have key roles this season — Rob Ninkovich and Jabaal Sheard — working their way back from injuries.
AP Sports Writer Kyle Hightower in Boston, and freelancer Hayden Grove in Cleveland contributed to this report.
Vegas stadium backers down to 2 top sites for Raiders
LAS VEGAS » Backers of a proposed NFL stadium said they’ve whittled their list to two sites just west of the Las Vegas Strip and refuse to accept any less than $750 million in public funding toward the project, which they hope will soon be home to the Raiders.
Representatives from Majestic Realty and the Las Vegas Sands casino company updated an oversight committee Thursday on their quest to build a 65,000seat domed stadium, showing off their slick renderings of the proposed venue in a video with AC/DC’s “Back in Black” as a soundtrack. They lamented that the price tag rises on a daily basis and is now $1.9 billion, and said they’d walk away from the project if state lawmakers don’t meet their minimum financial demand.
“Not to be difficult, but we’re not negotiable,” said Sands President Rob Goldstein, who spoke on behalf of billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his family. “If we can’t get 750, we respectfully thank you but we’re going to move on.”
The Raiders have made little progress securing a new stadium in the Oakland area and have committed to lining up $500 million toward building a new one in Las Vegas. Any team relocation needs the blessing of three-quarters of NFL owners, so developers are rushing to prepare their pitch by January, when the owners next meet.
Stadium supporters who presented a long site list earlier this summer said Thursday that they’ve zeroed in on two land parcels south of the Mandalay Bay hotel complex. They’ve signed a preliminary agreement for their top candidate — a 62acre plot just west of Interstate 15 — but also cited a secondary, 100-acre option at the Bali Hai Golf Club between the interstate and the Las Vegas Strip.
Public funding would come from an increase in a Las Vegas-area hotel room tax and potentially from a special taxation district around the stadium. Proponents displayed sample room reservations from the Sands-owned Venetian casino to show the hotel tax hike would add about $1 to a nightly bill of $109.
“It would be so negligible it wouldn’t even be worth being concerned about,” Goldstein said.
Ravens QB Flacco poised for return after 9-month absence
OWINGS MILLS, MD. » It’s time to find out how Joe Flacco will respond to taking a hit on his surgically repaired left knee.
Flacco will start at quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday night against the Detroit Lions, his first game action since tearing his ACL and MCL nine months ago in a game against the St. Louis Rams.
The injury ended Flacco’s run of 137 straight starts. Following surgery and intensive rehabilitation, he returned to the practice field on the first day of training camp.
Wearing a protective brace on his knee and a red jersey that serves as a donot-touch warning to his teammates, Flacco has fared well this summer.
But he hasn’t taken a blow to the knee. How he holds up in the pocket against Detroit is far more significant than completion percentage or touchdown throws.
“I don’t need to get hit, no,” Flacco said Thursday. “But if I do, it’s not a bad thing either. Hopefully, it’s the same as it’s always been.”
Flacco is the franchise career leader in yards passing (28,3220, touchdown throws (162) and 300-yard games (26). He was also the Super Bowl MVP in 2012.
His value to the Ravens is immeasurable. So someone asked coach John Harbaugh if he was confident Flacco could absorb a shot to the knee on Saturday.
“If I wasn’t, he wouldn’t be out there,” Harbaugh said.
But the coach acknowledged, “Football is always risky for everybody. That’s just the way it works. You have to weigh the benefits with the risk.”
That point is, the Ravens don’t want to wait until the Sept. 11 regular season opener against Buffalo to get a read on the status of their most important player.
“Joe’s the quarterback. He’s not going to break,” Harbaugh said. “He’s going to play and we’re planning on him playing really well, just like he has in practice. But it will be his first game action in a long time. I’m sure that’s going to be a factor, but I’d rather have it in this game than two weeks from now against the Bills.” Flacco agreed. “I really don’t feel like I need to play in (preseason) games to get ready to play Game One, but I want to put myself through that whole process,” he said. “I just think I’ll be better for it. That’s the reason for the whole thing.”
Flacco said watching the Ravens’ first two preseason games from the sideline was “tough.” He probably could have played, but what was the point?
Redskins’ Cousins ready for his preseason close-up
ASHBURN, VA. » Five passes for five completions and 39 yards is the balance of Kirk Cousins’ preseason so far. He may not like that, but he’s OK with it.
Now the Washington Redskins’ unquestioned starting quarterback, Cousins isn’t concerned about the light workload heading into the third preseason game Friday night against the Buffalo Bills. The so-called dress rehearsal will be the only chance for Cousins and several other starters to prepare for the regular season with actual game action.
Cousins feels like he has thrown more than five passes because of all the ones he has thrown in practice. Yet he still sees a benefit in preseason play, however much or little he gets of it.
“I don’t know that I need to play in four, but to play in some is very helpful,” Cousins said this week. “I think that’s what this Friday night will be all about is getting that rhythm so that when we do go out against the Steelers on Monday night, you feel like you’ve been there and you’re ready to go and it hasn’t been too long since you last took a snap in the stadium in a game-like atmosphere against a different opponent.”