Romo “leaning toward” having plate inserted in collarbone

A decision has been made. Sort of.
Speaking to a couple of reporters on Saturday (apparently at a LegoLand appearance with his wife and kids . . . and there’s nothing quite like stepping on one of those damn plastic bricks in your bare feet while stumbling to the bathroom in the middle of the night), Romo first said that he’ll have a plate inserted into his thrice-broken collarbone to protect it against further fracture.
He then clarified his remarks to say he’s “leaning toward” having the plate inserted. The information comes via Drew Davison of of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Desmond Purnell of NFL Media.
Romo has decided to have surgery. The question is whether he’ll have a plate inserted or a so-called Mumford procedure, which entails something other than the insertion of a plate.

Source: PFT.com
Author: Mike Florio
AP Photo: Tony Gutierrez

Report: Eagles open to trading unhappy DeMarco Murray

Murray running for the Cowboys, at the time, was happy and one of the league's leading RBs.

Eagles running back DeMarco Murray was reportedly unhappy playing for Chip Kelly last year. And he reportedly remains unhappy in Philadelphia, even after Kelly was fired and Doug Pederson was hired.

As a result, a trade could be coming.
That’s the word from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, who reports that teams are being told that Murray isn’t happy and the Eagles will listen to trade offers.
But the question is this: Just how unhappy is Murray? Unhappy enough that he’d take less money to play elsewhere? Because if he’s not that unhappy, a trade probably isn’t going to happen. The five-year, $40 million contract Murray signed last year calls for him to make a $7 million base salary this season, which it may be hard to convince any team to pay. Cutting Murray would give the Eagles a $13 million dead cap hit this season, which means the Eagles aren’t going to be eager to get rid of him entirely.
Rapoport notes that Murray has an affinity for the Cowboys. But any kind of trade involving Murray would likely be difficult to pull off, and a trade within the NFC East may be even harder.
After winning the Offensive Player of the Year award in 2014 with the Cowboys, Murray had a miserable season in 2015 with the Eagles, gaining just 702 yards on 193 carries and getting largely phased out of the offense as the season wore on.

Source: PFT.com
Author: Michael David Smith
Photo via Dallas.News.com

Titans re-sign Craig Stevens

The Titans have re-signed veteran tight end Craig Stevens, the team announced Thursday night.
Stevens, 31, has played in 109 career games for the Titans and has lined up at tight end and in the backfield. He has 60 career receptions, six for touchdowns.
He played in all 16 games and started 11 last season, catching two touchdown passes.
Stevens restructured his deal before last season, and this new deal allows Stevens the opportunity to possibly play his whole career with the Titans. He was a third-round pick in 2008.


Source: PFT.com
Author: Zac Jackson
Photo via TennesseeTitans.com

Is RGIII a fit in Dallas?

It’s no secret that the Cowboys are looking for a quarterback who can, ideally, play in the event Tony Romo is injured and take over for him at some point down the road.
“The Cowboys are really doing their due diligence,” Clarence E. Hill, Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram said on Thursday’s PFT Live. “They’re really on the hunt for a quarterback for the first time really since they drafted Troy Aikman first overall. They’re on the hunt for a quarterback in the draft. The question is can they pull the trigger or will they pull the trigger early, I don’t see them doing it. I see them going with Myles Jack or Jalen Ramsey or a Joey Bosa or someone like that to bolster that defense.”
But what about free agency? Many (including Aikman) thinks that the Cowboys will pursue Robert Griffin III. Rich Tandler of CSN Mid-Atlantic explains that perhaps Griffin won’t be a fit in Dallas. Citing some quotes from Jean-Jacques Taylor of ESPN.com, Tandler points out that Griffin’s skills don’t fit the team’s offense, which requires the quarterback to throw the ball as the receiver makes his break. Griffin may not be the quarterback to make those throws.
Then there’s the question of whether Griffin wants to serve as Romo’s understudy for two years. From a pure dollars-and-cents standpoint, a team considering Griffin as a potential starter would be far more likely to pay him far more money than the Cowboys would budget for a backup.
Why wouldn’t Griffin be more interested in the Rams, if the Rams are interested in him? Or the Broncos, who have been linked to Griffin as the break-glass-in-event-of-Osweiler-emergency? After being put in bubble wrap for all of the 2015 regular season, Griffin presumably wants to play. In Dallas, that would only happen if Romo can’t.

Source: PFT.com
Author: Mike Florio
Photo: The Associated Press via nola.com

Would Broncos want Peyton Manning at any price?

Despite what they’ve said publicly, the Denver Broncos need to know sooner than later whether quarterback Peyton Manning will be retiring. If he’s on the roster as of March 9 under the terms of his current contract, the Broncos will owe Manning $19 million fully guaranteed for 2016.
So the question is whether the Broncos would keep Manning at a reduced rate, if he decides to return for another season. One league source familiar with the organization’s thinking believes that the Broncos don’t want Manning back at any price.
Having Manning back at any price or in any capacity will make it much more difficult to turn the page to Brock Osweiler or, if necessary, someone else.
The next question becomes why haven’t they cut him? They haven’t cut him because they want Manning to come to the conclusion that he’s retiring on his own.
It’s the same reason why they reportedly haven’t begun negotiations with quarterback Brock Osweiler. (Then again, the source contends that negotiations have indeed occurred, but that they are happening discreetly in order to allow the impression to be created that the Broncos are waiting for Peyton.)
And so it all comes back to the original question. Why hasn’t Peyton Manning told the Broncos what he plans to do? If, as Archie Manning said immediately after Super Bowl 50, Peyton is “done in Denver,” why not make it a formality with Denver so that everyone can move on? If he wants an outright release so that he can consider playing for the Rams or anyone else, the Broncos would surely give it to him.
Indeed, they’re eventually going to give it to him anyway, before that $19 million salary becomes completely and totally guaranteed.

Source: PFT.com
Author: Mike Florio
Photo: Kevin Dietsch, UPI

2015 Playoffs Superbowl Football ERA Formula Trends Podcast

Photo by Kevin Dietsch, UPI

2015 Super Bowl Football ERA Game Results

The Football ERA Formula outputs a result that runs on a scale from approximately 5000 points to -5000 with losing teams that are dominated getting pushed into the negative numbers by their victors.  Defensive Elements of the Formula contribute to this negative score in games constituting blowouts.  A few years back, RealFootballAnalysis.com developed a formula that translates the Final Game Results of The Football ERA into Composite Scores that resemble football scores as much as possible.  Here are The Football ERA Game Results and their corresponding Composite Scores:

Football ERA Composite Score

Car	…	30
Den	…	25

The Football ERA Game Results

	Net	Offense	Offense	Offense	Defense	Defense	Defense
	Total	Total	Rushing	Drives	Total	Rushing	Pressure
Car	2414	1147	639	509	1266	360	906
Den	1465	-32	369	-401	1497	-360	1857

Photos by Brian Kersey, UPI