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 If he is suspended, Brady would be the highest-profile NFL player
ever to receive such a punishment in the 96-year history of the
league.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told Boston.com on Saturday that "no
decisions have been made" regarding any potential punishment for
Brady.
Aiello was responding to an article by Gary Myers of the New York
Daily News, with the headline, "Tom Brady will be suspended by Roger
Goodell for role in DeflateGate, announcement expected next week."
"It is Gary Myers' prediction," Aiello wrote. "The headline is
misleading."
If a suspension is announced this week, the Patriots likely would
need to add to their roster, with the only other quarterbacks on the
depth chart behind Brady are untested Jimmy Garoppolo and Garrett
Gilbert.
Both 23-year-olds quarterbacks have never started an NFL game.
Mike Reiss of ESPN Boston floats the name of longtime Green Bay
Packers backup Matt Flynn as a possible free agent signing. Other
veteran quarterbacks available include Michael Vick, Jason Campbell
and Tarvaris Jackson.
The 243-page Ted Wells report was released Wednesday and concluded
that the Patriots "more probable than not" violated NFL rules and
Brady "was at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities"
of the deflated game balls.
---Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel continues to work on
his recovery and learning the new offense -- at the same time
impressing the coaches with his effort since returning to the team.
The Browns still think Manziel, their first-round pick last year,
has a chance to emerge as the quarterback of the future in
Cleveland.
New offensive coordinator John DeFilippo praised Manziel's offseason
work ethic during the past two weeks with words like "great,"
"fantastic" and "awesome."
"Johnny's been great," DeFilippo told the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
"He's been fantastic. What he wants to talk about, before he stepped
foot back in this building is his business. All I know is Johnny the
football player, and he's been awesome. He's been working hard, very
hard with myself and (quarterbacks coach Kevin O'Connell), and doing
what we want him to do on the field."
DeFilippo, the Oakland Raiders quarterbacks coach for three seasons
before replacing former offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, said
Manziel is taking his job seriously, unlike some of the criticism in
his rookie year.
"All I know is this: From the moment he stepped in this building
from the last two weeks, he's been nothing but a consummate
professional," DeFilippo said. "He's spent every hour that he's been
allowed to spend in this building. We give them worksheets every
Tuesday and every Friday, and they're done to the unbelievable
detail that we need an NFL quarterback to do. From that standpoint,
like I said I can't predict the future, but all I can do is tell you
right now Johnny Manziel is putting himself in a position to be a
quarterback in the NFL."
---The Cincinnati Bengals signed quarterback Terrelle Pryor after
his tryout during rookie minicamp.
Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson was head coach of the
Oakland Raiders in 2011 when Pryor was drafted.
The 6-foot-4, 233-pound Pryor, a fourth-year NFL player from Ohio
State, was a third-round choice by Oakland in the 2011 NFL
Supplemental Draft. He played in 15 Raiders games (10 starts) over
the 2011-13 seasons, including 11 games and nine starts in 2013. In
his career, he has passed for 1,953 yards and nine touchdowns, with
12 interceptions. He also has rushed for 627 yards and three
touchdowns.
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Pryor was with the Seattle Seahawks during the 2014 preseason after
being traded by Oakland. He was released as part of the roster cut
to 53 and was not with an NFL team in the regular season. He signed
with the Kansas City Chiefs in January, but he was released last
week.
Pryor will battle backups AJ McCarron and Josh Johnson for a spot on
the roster during the summer months.
---The Bengals also signed wide receiver Mario Alford of West
Virginia, the team's seventh-round selection in the 2015 NFL Draft.
He is the first Bengals draft pick to sign his rookie contract.
Alford (5-9, 180) played two seasons at West Virginia, following two
seasons at Georgia Military College. In 2014 for West Virginia, he
had 65 receptions for 945 yards and 11 touchdowns, and he also
averaged 28.6 yards on kickoff returns, ranking No. 8 nationally,
with two TDs.
---In addition, the Bengals signed three college free agents who
participated as tryout players in this weekend's rookie minicamp.
Signed were safety Erick Dargan (5-11, 211) of Oregon, defensive
tackle Kalafitoni Pole (6-2, 311) of Washington State and tight end
John Peters (6-8, 230) of Cincinnati's Mount St. Joseph University.
Tight end Kevin Brock, a third-year NFL player from Rutgers, was
waived. Brock played in 14 games with two starts for the Bengals
last season, with five receptions for 21 yards.
---The Atlanta Falcons signed tackle Matt Huffer and defensive back
Jonathon Mincy and waived defensive tackle Chris Brown, cornerback
Jordan Ozerities, and wide receiver Joshua Stangby.
Huffer was a three-year starter at left tackle at South Dakota,
where he earned honorable mention all-conference honors as a
sophomore in 2012.
Mincy was a three year starter at Auburn where he made 211 career
tackles. He was named a second team All-SEC selection in 2014.
Brown played at Tarleton State, Ozerities played in 47 games for
Central Florida and Stangby played for Ottawa University in 2014.
---The Indianapolis Colts signed running back Abou Toure as an
undrafted free agent and waived outside linebacker Terrell
Hartsfield.
The 6-foot-2, 230-pound Toure worked out with the Colts on a tryout
basis during Indianapolis' three-day rookie minicamp after going
undrafted out of Tennessee-Martin. He rushed for 1,647 yards with 10
touchdowns in two seasons with the Skyhawks.
The 6-3, 246-pound Hartsfield originally signed with the Colts as an
undrafted free agent on May 5. He recorded 61 tackles, 10.5 sacks
and 16 tackles for loss in two seasons with the Cincinnati Bearcats.
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