Etc. …
He’ll join his former offensive coordinator
HOCKEY: The NHL’s COVID-19 list is now down to 13 players, marking the second-lowest total since the league first began publishing it on Jan. 13. The 13 players are the fewest since there were 12 listed on Jan. 17.
PHILADELPHIA — Carson Wentz helped steer the Philadelphia Eagles to the franchise’s only Super Bowl title and later received the richest contract in team history.
He’s already gone before that deal even kicked in.
The Eagles agreed to trade Wentz to the Indianapolis Colts, according to a person familiar with the deal. Philadelphia receives a third-round pick in this year’s draft and a conditional second-round pick in 2022 that can turn into a first-round pick if Wentz plays 75% of the snaps this year or 70% and the Colts make the playoffs.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday because the deal hasn’t been announced.
Wentz is coming off the worst season of his five-year career and was benched for rookie Jalen Hurts after 12 games. He finished third in NFL MVP voting in 2017 when he led the Eagles to an 11-2 record before a knee injury ended his season and Philadelphia went on to win the Super Bowl.
The deal reunites Wentz with Colts coach Frank Reich, who served as Philadelphia’s offensive coordinator his first two seasons in the league. Press Taylor, an offensive assistant coach with the Eagles during Wentz’s tenure, also has joined Reich’s staff.
The Colts are turning to their fourth starting quarterback in Reich’s four years. Andrew Luck retired abruptly before the 2019 season and Jacoby Brissett took over. Philip Rivers led the team to the playoffs in his only season in Indianapolis in 2020. After Rivers retired, Wentz became an ideal replacement for the team.
Brissett is about to become a free agent and the only other quarterback on the roster is Jacob Eason, who never took a snap last season as a rookie.
Wentz’s new teammates are already welcoming his arrival.
“Let’s get to work!!! Welcome to Indy! Can’t wait to see what the future holds in the 317,” two-time All-Pro linebacker Darius Leonard wrote on his social media account, citing the city’s area code.
Receiver Parris Campbell was even more succinct on Twitter: “LETS WORK!!”
Wentz is entering the first season of a four-year, $128 million contract extension he signed in June 2019. The Eagles will absorb a significant salary cap hit of $33.8 million in dead money on their 2021 cap. Indy started the offseason with the second-most room under the projected cap.
The Eagles traded up twice in the 2016 NFL draft to select Wentz with the No. 2 overall pick. He started all 16 games as a rookie and had a breakout sophomore season before he tore two knee ligaments in Week 14 and watched Nick Foles lead the Eagles to a Super Bowl win over New England.
A back injury ended Wentz’s season early in 2018 and Foles led the Eagles to a playoff victory.
Wentz started every game in 2019 and helped the Eagles win the NFC East with an excellent four-game stretch in December. He became the first NFL quarterback to throw for 4,000 yards without a wide receiver having 500 yards receiving and became the first to throw 20 or more touchdowns and seven or fewer interceptions in three straight seasons.
But he was knocked out of his first career playoff start after nine snaps because of a concussion. Wentz hasn’t been the same since that hit from Jadeveon Clowney. He posted a 72.8 passer rating, 16 interceptions and lost four fumbles in 12 starts in 2020. The Eagles finished 4-11-1 and fired coach Doug Pederson. They hired former Colts offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni.
The Colts are betting Wentz will rebound with a new team, which looks like a solid fit for the former North Dakota State star. After losing at Buffalo in the wild-card round last month, general manager Chris Ballard made it clear Indy’s top offseason priority was finding a long-term solution at quarterback.
Some speculated about what the Colts would do in free agency or potentially move up in the draft.
But Ballard was reticent about being pressured into a rash decision, giving away too many picks or overpaying.
“We get the importance of the quarterback position but the difference between just taking one and taking the right one is the key in our minds,” Ballard said.
FALCONS: Atlanta cleared almost $11 million in cap space by releasing two veterans — safety Ricardo Allen and defensive end Allen Bailey.
According to Spotrac, the team cleared $6.25 million by releasing Allen, a four-time team captain, and another $4.5 million by cutting Bailey. The Falcons also waived quarterback Kurt Benkert, who spent the 2020 season on the Falcons’ practice squad.
RAMS: The team says it has mutually parted ways with Aaron Kromer, its offensive line coach and running game coordinator.
The Rams on Thursday confirmed the departure of Kromer, who had been with the team since head coach Sean McVay’s first season in 2017.
Kromer is the seventh assistant coach to leave McVay’s staff in the last 4 1/2 weeks since the Rams’ fourth consecutive winning season ended with a playoff defeat to the Packers in Green Bay.
SALARY CAP: The NFL has increased the salary cap to a minimum of $180 million for the 2021 season.
The league and the NFL Players Association had previously set a minimum of $175 million because of revenue losses incurred during the coronavirus pandemic.
LONDON — Larry the cat, a four-legged inhabitant of London’s 10 Downing St., just marked a decade as Britain’s mouse-catcher in chief. The tabby cat was recruited by then-Prime Minister David Cameron to deal with a pack of rats seen scuttling close to the British leader’s official residence, and entered Downing Street on Feb. 15, 2011.
The former stray, adopted from London’s Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, was given the title Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office, an unofficial pest control post. He was the first cat to hold the rat-catching portfolio since the retirement of Humphrey in 1997, and has loyally served three prime ministers.
But it seems like yesterday that Larry was just another cat — as opposed to a media superstar — said Lindsey Quinlan, the head of cattery of Battersea.
“Throughout his time at Number 10, Larry has proven himself to not only be a brilliant ambassador for Battersea but also demonstrated to millions of people around the world how incredible rescue cats are,’’ she said. “His rags to riches tale is yet more proof of why all animals deserve a second chance — one minute they may be an overlooked stray on the streets, the next they could become one of the nation’s beloved political figures, with fans around the world.”
Larry, who has met a number of world leaders, has been largely unfriendly to men but took a liking to former U.S. President Barack Obama. When former President Donald Trump visited in 2019, Larry took a nap under his car.
His grip on the public imagination is clear — and political leaders know better than to ignore that popularity. The tomcat was a sentimental topic of conversation in Cameron’s final appearance in Parliament as prime minister when he said he wanted to quash a rumor that — perish the thought — he didn’t like Larry.
And just to prove it, he whipped out evidence: a picture of Larry lying on his lap.
“He belongs to the house and the staff love him very much — as do I,” he said at the time, explaining why he wasn’t taking Larry with him after leaving office.
After the December 2019 election, rumors swirled that Larry might be headed for retirement with the news that the new prime minister, Boris Johnson, was a dog man. However, despite the prime minister moving Jack Russell cross Dilyn into Downing Street, Larry remained in office.
Reports of his rodent-killing abilities vary. Larry became known for his occasional scraps with neighboring cats — especially Palmerston, chief mouser to the Foreign Office across the street — and fondness for sleep. Palmerston has retired to the country, so things have been a bit quieter of late.
These days Larry, now 14, is often seen by photographers patrolling his turf. Visitors to the building can sometimes find him napping on a ledge above a radiator or sleeping on a floor, where dignitaries occasionally have to step over him.
At the heart of government, he specializes in power naps.