NFL notebook: Longtime coach Knox dies at 86

[May 14, 2018]  Chuck Knox, a longtime NFL coach who won 186 regular-season games, died Sunday at age 86, the Seattle Seahawks confirmed.

Knox reportedly was suffering from dementia and recently entered hospice care.

Knox coached for the Los Angeles Rams (twice), Buffalo Bills and Seattle Seahawks during his 22 seasons as a head coach. His regular-season record was 186-147-1, and he went 7-11 in postseason play. He guided four teams to conference championship games -- the Rams three times in the 1970s and the Seahawks in 1983 -- but never reached a Super Bowl.

Knox was selected NFL Coach of the Year three times (1973, 1980 and 1984) and was nicknamed "Ground Chuck" for his run-first offenses. Knox was an offensive line coach before landing the Rams' job in 1973 and going 12-2, the first of five straight 10-win seasons with the franchise.

--The Seahawks waived Stephen Morris less than a month after signing him as a potential backup to quarterback Russell Wilson.

While Morris has never taken a regular-season NFL snap, he has logged time with the Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles, Indianapolis Colts and Jacksonville Jaguars, who signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2014.

The Seahawks now have three quarterbacks on the roster, Wilson, backup Austin Davis and 2018 seventh-round pick Alex McGough.

--The nephew of NFL great Junior Seau is at New York Giants rookie minicamp in a bid to follow his uncle's legacy.

Ian Seau, a linebacker, went undrafted out of Nevada before spending training camp with the Rams in 2016 and then spending time on the Bills' practice squad last season.

Junior Seau played 20 years in the NFL but took his own life in 2012 and was posthumously found to have the degenerative brain disease CTE. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015.

--Former Carolina Panthers and Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy is set to make his MMA debut as part of the "Dana White Tuesday Night Contender Series" in a heavyweight fight June 12.

He will be facing another former NFL player, Austen Lane, a defensive end who was drafted in the fifth round by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2010. Lane also played for the Detroit Lions and spent time with the Chicago Bears in a career that spanned from 2010-14.

Lane, 30, is 4-0 as a professional fighter. The fight was announced during the broadcast of UFC 224 Saturday night in Brazil. Hardy has gone 3-0 in his amateur fights since his last game in the NFL with the Cowboys in 2015. All three of his wins have come via knockout.

--Field Level Media

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