Wednesday NFL buzz: Vikings not revealing starting QB
As Week 1 and the kickoff to the 2016 NFL season approaches, we're compiling all of the latest news and notes from around the NFL that you might have missed elsewhere.
Check back throughout the day for all of the latest quick hits:
Sanders gets extension
The Denver Broncos locked down one of their top weapons in WR Emmanuel Sanders, who agreed to a three-year extension on Wednesday.
The agreement is worth $33 million, according to multiple reports.
Sanders, 29, had 76 catches for 1,135 yards and six touchdowns last season.
Vikings not naming starting QB before first game
The Minnesota Vikings won't reveal their starting quarterback before Sunday's game against the Tennessee Titans, coach Mike Zimmer said Wednesday.
Shaun Hill was listed as the starter on the Vikings' initial depth chart, but Zimmer said he and Sam Bradford would split reps this week. Minnesota acquired Bradford in a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles last Saturday after Teddy Bridgewater suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and dislocated knee last week.
Titans coach Mike Mularkey told ESPN he "would anticipate" Bradford starts, but it wouldn't change how the Titans would prepare if Hill is the No. 1.
Wright out for Titans
When he re-injured his hamstring last week, Titans wide receiver Kendall Wright was confident that he’d still be ready for the season opener.
Unfortunately for Wright, that won’t be the case.
Titans coach Mike Mularkey said Wednesday that he’s ruled Wright out for Sunday’s contest against Minnesota and that he doesn’t know when the fifth-year receiver – a 2012 first-round draft pick – will be able to return.
Mularkey said Wright still can’t run full speed because the hamstring is not 100 percent.
“You think he has a chance and then there’s a setback,” Mularkey said. “I really have no timeframe on Kendall. I think that’s going to be up to Kendall.
“I know he’s working in here extremely hard. He wants to play. I know he does. It’s got to be killing him, especially opening day, but for some reason that thing is not coming around as it should.”
- John Glennon, The Tennessean
Saints bring back Evans
Offensive guard Jahri Evans is returning to the New Orleans Saints, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported.
Evans was a four-time all-pro and six-time Pro Bowl selection in 10 years with the Saints, but he was released in February. He briefly joined the Seattle Seahawks but was cut last week.
Bills OT Henderson facing four-game suspension
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – According to reports by ESPN and NFL Network, Bills’ third-year offensive tackle Seantrel Henderson may be suspended four games for a substance abuse violation.
However, the suspension is pending because the substance in question – believed to be marijuana - is related to his treatment of Crohn’s disease, an affliction he was diagnosed with last year.
Marijuana is a violation of the NFL’s substance abuse policy – Bills defensive tackle Marcell Dareus is currently suspended the first four games for that – but in Henderson’s case, if it is part of his treatment to help with pain due to Crohn’s, the NFL could take that into account and perhaps rescind, or shorten the suspension. Or, maybe not.
Henderson just returned to practice in late August at the very end of training camp at St. John Fisher College, and he played in the third preseason game against Washington. Last week he missed two practices and the final preseason game, though no reason was given for his absence.
- Sal Maiorana, Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat & Chronicle
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