NFL bans 10 helmet models after 2018, including Brady’s
Vikings sign Kendricks to huge extension
NEW YORK, April 17, (Agencies): New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is among the NFL players who will have to look for a new helmet after next season after 10 headgear models were banned Monday.
In a move to combat concussions after concerns for years that not enough was being done to protect players, the league and the NFL Players Association released laboratory performance test results on helmet brands.
They announced 10 models would be prohibited, although players who used four of them in the 2017 season could have one final campaign with them in 2018.
Kendricks
The Minnesota Vikings locked up standout middle linebacker Eric Kendricks to a multi-year extension, the team announced Monday.
ESPN reported the deal is worth $50 million over five years, with $25 million guaranteed.
Kendricks is scheduled to make a base salary of $1.138 million in 2018 in the final season of his four-year rookie contract. He has recorded 314 tackles over his first three NFL seasons, including a career-best 113 in 2017. He also has 7.5 sacks and two interceptions — returning both for touchdowns.
Starting running back C.J. Anderson was released by the Denver Broncos.
Anderson was reportedly close to being traded to the Miami Dolphins earlier this offseason, but the deal fell apart. He spent five seasons with the Broncos, rushing for 3,051 yards and 20 touchdowns. Releasing him saves $4.5 million against the 2018 salary cap.
Devontae Booker is expected to become the starter for the Broncos unless the team drafts a running back early in the 2018 NFL Draft on April 26.
For the second year in a row, Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald did not report for the start of the team’s offseason conditioning program as he seeks a contract extension.
Donald, who turns 27 in May, is the league’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year and is widely expected to seek a contract that will make him the league’s highest-paid defensive player.
Josh Gordon signed his one-year exclusive rights free agent tender with the Cleveland Browns. The contract covers only the 2018 season and is worth $790,000. Gordon will make the minimum salary for a player with two accrued NFL seasons.
While Gordon was drafted in the 2012 supplemental draft, he missed the majority of two full seasons serving NFL suspensions for drug use.
Defensive end Ziggy Ansah is returning from a humanitarian trip to Ghana to sign his one-year, $17.143 million franchise tender with the Detroit Lions and begin offseason workouts.
First-year head coach Matt Patricia’s debut offseason with the Lions is underway in Allen Park, Mich., and Ansah is expected to be present for the majority of the sessions.
Safety LaMarcus Joyner signed his $11,287,000 franchise tag, and NFL Network reported that he will take part in the start of the Los Angeles Rams’ offseason program.
Rams outside linebacker Matt Longacre also signed his restricted free agent tender, and the team reportedly is re-signing offensive tackle Cornelius Lucas, according to NFL Network.
The Seattle Seahawks are expected to release defensive tackle Malik McDowell “in the near future,” according to an NFL Network report.
The report adds that the team has yet to clear McDowell, 21, medically from the head injuries he sustained in an ATV accident last summer.
Quarterback Austin Davis resigned with the Seahawks, but the team is reportedly still weighing the option of adding Colin Kaepernick to the depth chart behind All-Pro Russell Wilson.
Davis, 28, will make $780,000 for 2018 and joins Stephen Morris, who signed with the team Friday amidst speculation Seattle could add Kaepernick, as Wilson’s backups on the current roster.
Five months after the NFL began an investigation into an alleged incident between Jameis Winston and an Uber driver, the NFL still hasn’t interviewed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback, Winston told reporters as the team began their offseason workout program in Tampa.
A female Uber driver in Arizona accused Winston of groping her in March 2016, and the league began its probe last November. Winston, who maintains his innocence, said nobody from the NFL has contacted him to discuss the incident.
Linebacker Reuben Foster will not face the misdemeanor charge for possession of a large-capacity ammunition magazine due to a federal injunction.
The Santa Clara District Attorney informed Foster’s attorney the misdemeanor would be dropped at his next scheduled court date April 30.
In this file photo taken on Jan 13, 2018, Tom Brady #12 of the New England Patriots looks to throw as he is defended by Brian Orakpo #98 of the Tennessee Titans in the first quarter of the AFC Divisional Playoff
Game at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (AFP)