National Football League roundup

[June 01, 2016]  May 31 (The Sports Xchange) - Defensive back Walter Thurmond is the latest NFL player who decided to walk away from the game and millions of dollars seemingly in the prime of his career.

According to multiple reports on Tuesday, the former Philadelphia Eagles safety is retiring at age 28 after six professional seasons. ESPN reported that Thurmond said he no longer wants to play football and is interested in pursuing other opportunities.

Thurmond would be leaving the game after completing the best season of his career in 2015 when he moved from cornerback to safety and started all 16 games for the first time. He finished with 62 tackles, six tackles for loss, two sacks, three interceptions, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery that he returned for a touchdown.

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Will Smith's blood-alcohol level was 0.24 at the time of his death, three times the legal limit in Louisiana, when he was shot and killed on April 9, according to a report by the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

The former New Orleans Saints defensive end died at the scene after an incident that involved Cardell Hayes, who was indicted on a second-degree murder charge in late April.

The Times-Picayune cited two sources with knowledge of the toxicology report in reporting the high level. The legal limit in Louisiana is 0.08.

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Mark Sanchez has started 72 NFL games and rookie Paxton Lynch has the quarterback of the future label. Yet Denver Broncos coach Gary Kubiak is hinting that a third quarterback is a possibility to be the starting signal caller this season.

Kubiak is impressed with 24-year-old Trevor Siemian, a seventh-round pick in 2015 who hasn't thrown a single pass in an NFL game.

"I think Trevor has a maturity to him. He's kind of the sleeper, I would say," Kubiak told the Denver Post.

With the retirement of Peyton Manning and the free-agent defection of Brock Osweiler to the Houston Texans, the defending Super Bowl champions are committed to finding a starter out of the group of Sanchez (10 starts over the past three seasons), Lynch (a guy projected to need a year of seasoning) or Siemian (took a knee in one game in 2015).

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The Tennessee Titans signed linebacker Kevin Dodd to a four-year contract. The deal is worth an estimated $6.55 million, including a $2.96 million signing bonus.

Dodd recently underwent surgery on his right foot that is expected to keep him sidelined until training camp.

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Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker ended their ceremonial holdout and returned to workouts with the New York Jets on Tuesday.

The team's top receivers stayed away from the first part of scheduled organized team activities, which are not mandatory under NFL guidelines, as a show of support for quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick started for the Jets last season but remains unsigned in a long-running contract stalemate.

The protest brought more attention to the standoff between Fitzpatrick and the Jets. Fitzpatrick was reportedly offered $12 million in the first year of a recent three-year contract proposal from the team.

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Offensive lineman David Quessenberry was waived by the Houston Texans one year after entering cancer remission.

The Texans, who drafted Quessenberry in 2013, planned to bring the offensive tackle back if he clears waivers. The procedural move was necessary to assign Quessenberry to the non-football injury list.

Quessenberry spent his rookie year on injured reserve because of a foot injury. He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins T Lymphoblastic lymphoma after a Texans athletic trainer pushed for more tests on a chronic cough in June 2014. Quessenberry underwent intense chemotherapy treatments and is still taking medication as part of his ongoing treatment.

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The Detroit Lions placed tight end Tim Wright on injured reserve after he suffered a torn ACL during Organized Activities last week.

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The Minnesota Vikings signed defensive tackle Bruce Gaston and waived defensive end B.J. DuBose with an injury designation.

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The Buffalo Bills signed linebacker Jamari Lattimore, the team announced. Lattimore, 27, played for the New York Jets last season after spending his first four NFL campaigns with the Green Bay Packers.

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Orlando will host the Pro Bowl in January 2017 in ongoing alterations to the NFL's postseason all-star game designed to stoke interest. (Editing by Andrew Both)

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