Rob Ryan says Champ Bailey looks fantastic

After five seasons in Washington and 10 in Denver, Champ Bailey has participated in his first practices in New Orleans this week. Saints defensive coordinator Rob Ryan likes what he sees.
“He looks fantastic,” Ryan told the Advertiser. “You look out there and you think he’s one of those young guys running around. But he’s bringing excitement to our defense and knowledge and it’s awesome to add a great player like him.”
The soon-to-be 36-year-old Bailey is the oldest player on the Saints other than kicker Shayne Graham, and he says he takes the role of being a leader seriously.
“If you put me on any team, I’m always going to be the old guy,” Bailey said. “It’s just something I’ve got to get used to. . . . My first thing is to lead by example, show how hard I can work and try to lead that way. And all these guys — I know I have a lot of experience and I’m not going to shy away from telling them things I think they need to hear and making sure I’m there for them when they have questions.”
Veteran leadership is nice, but the Saints need Bailey to contribute on Sundays in the fall, and not just at OTAs. By age 36 players often struggle to stay healthy for a full season, and last year in Denver Bailey missed 11 games. Ryan has to hope Bailey can keep looking fantastic all year.

Source: PFT.com
Author: Michael David Smith
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Jake Locker “felt really good” in return to field

Quarterback Jake Locker’s future with the Titans is a bit uncertain after the team decided not to exercise the 2015 option on his contract.
While it is unclear exactly what Locker might have to do to convince new coach Ken Whisenhunt, General Manager Ruston Webster and the rest of the Titans brass that he’s the right man for the long term, any argument will have to start with staying healthy. Locker’s had trouble doing that to this point in his NFL career, including the Lisfranc injury that ended his 2013 season in November.
For now, Locker’s healthy and he went through the first day of OTAs with the rest of the team on Tuesday. It was the first time he’s done team drills since last year’s injury.
“It felt really good. I felt really good moving around,” Locker said, via the Tennessean. “… I think that people heal differently. Some people heal faster, slower, whatever it is. I take pride in the fact that I’m going to do everything I can to exceed people’s expectations.”
Locker will also have plenty of mental work to do over the rest of the offseason as the Titans install Whisenhunt’s offense and he’ll need to be sharp in both areas to put forth the kind of performance he’ll need to convince the Titans to keep building their offense around him.

Source: PFT.com
Author: Josh Alper
Photo: Don McPeak-USA TODAY Sports

Tom Brady: I had a pretty good idea we’d take a quarterback

When Bill Belichick used the Patriots’ second-round draft pick on quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, it could have been seen as an affront to Tom Brady. But Brady says he’s taking it in stride.
“I felt like I had a pretty good idea we’d take a quarterback,” Brady told Peter King of TheMMQB.com. “Coach Belichick doesn’t care who the quarterback is here. He’s always going to play the guy who he thinks gives him the best chance to win. It’s not my role to choose players here, thankfully. And this is not the first time they’ve taken another quarterback either. There’s no entitlement in the NFL. I don’t expect to be given anything. I just hope I’m the one most entitled to play that position for a long time here.”
When a team with a 36-year-old franchise quarterback uses a second-round draft pick on a quarterback, it may be an indication that the team doesn’t expect that franchise quarterback to last much longer. But Brady says he’s still excited about playing many more years of football.
“There’s nothing that can wake me up at 5 o’clock in the morning on a Thursday morning in May like getting ready for a day of football,” Brady said. I want to play a long time. There’s nothing I like doing that’s close to football. What’ll I do when I’m done playing? I don’t know, but I know it won’t be nearly as fun. I can tell you neither me nor Peyton [Manning] will probably be very far from the game of football when we’re done.”
Brady won’t be ready to hand the reins over to Garoppolo any time soon.

Source: PFT.com
Author: Michael David Smith
Photo:Jim Rogash, Getty Images