Bengals extend deals with defenders Atkins, Dunlap
The Cincinnati Bengals agreed to contract extensions on Tuesday with defensive tackle Geno Atkins and defensive end Carlos Dunlap, their top pass rushers who were entering the final years on their deals.
The deals weren’t immediately confirmed by the Bengals, but Atkins’ agents confirmed on Twitter that Atkins got a four-year deal, while Dunlap was extended for three years. The deals reportedly could be worth up to a combined $110 million.
The Bengals cleared some salary cap room for the deals when they released receiver Brandon LaFell and safety George Iloka during training camp.
Atkins, 30, made his sixth Pro Bowl and led the Bengals with nine sacks last season, the most by an NFL interior lineman. Dunlap, 29, finished third on the club with seven sacks last season. Carlos Dunlap, left, and Geno Atkins team up to bring down the Cowboys’ Rod Smith in an exhibition game on Saturday. The defensive linemen, key players for the Bengals’ defense, both received multiyear contract extensions.
Baker Mayfield will start for the Cleveland Browns and then stop — maybe for a while.
The top overall pick will make his first start and play as much as a half on Thursday night when the Browns visit Detroit in an exhibition that will feature backups as well as
third- and fourthstringers fighting for roster spots before this weekend’s cuts.
Mayfield’s current job as the Browns' No. 2 QB behind Tyrod Taylor is secure, but the Heisman Trophy winner is looking forward to a chance to make an another positive impression before settling into the backup role.
“I’m very ready,” Mayfield said. “It’s another opportunity for me. I’ve been saying it over and over again, I need to take advantage of my opportunities and this is a great one to come out and show what I can do from the get-go, set the tone not just for the offense but for the whole team.”
Not wanting to risk injury, Browns coach Hue Jackson is resting his starters against the Lions so his team is as healthy as possible for the Sept. 9 season opener against Pittsburgh. Taylor is banged up after dislocating a pinky finger and bruising his left (non-throwing) hand last week against Philadelphia, and Jackson won’t take unnecessary chances.
“The best team that we’re going to have for the 2018 season is going to be the team that we will trot out against Pittsburgh,” Jackson said. The NFL’s preseason product has never been pretty, but Cowboys owner Jerry Jones offered an alternative in a Dallas radio interview.
“My solution is real simple,” he said. “It’s cut back on preseason games, have one at each team’s home and play a couple of them. And then you need to add two games to the regular season, which I have been a proponent of for several years.”
Jones acknowledged that such a plan would be complicated, but he said expanding the regular season to 18 games games offers “a better way of players using what they bring to the table, their talents, their skills, their professional time in pro sports.
That will give them a bigger payday that’s fair. And the other thing it does is certainly give our fans what we all think they deserve, and that’s a competitive game.”
Jones also said his plan would improve player safety.
“I think candidly it’s probably physically better for players than it is to have the longer preseason, the longer practicing,” Jones said. “Our studies show that we actually have a ramped- up injury situation with players during preseason as opposed to the injury factor in the regular season.”
Philadelphia Eagles coach Doug Pederson said he likely won’t reveal whether quarterback Carson Wentz or Nick Foles will start the season opener until 90 minutes before the Sept. 6 home game against Atlanta.
Wentz, coming off torn knee ligaments suffered last season, is practicing but hasn't been medically cleared for contact. Foles struggled in two preseason games and won't play Thursday against the New York Jets.