Washington probably isn’t done adding free agents, but coach Jay Gruden hinted that we may not see any official transactions until after the draft.
“I think there’s a lot of reasons for that,” Gruden told Washington reporter Rich Tandler of CSNMidAtlantic.com. “You don’t want to go crazy signing a bunch of backs and then draft one and have to cut them anyway. So I think we want to find out exactly where we stand after the draft.”
Let’s take a look at some more notes from around the NFC…
- Gruden acknowledged that Washington let go of “a heck of a running back” by allowing veteran Alfred Morris to sign elsewhere. As NFL.com’s Kevin Patra writes, the team will now have to rely on second-year running back Matt Jones. “We need him to protect the ball a little bit more,” Gruden said. “He’s a big, strong, powerful back that I think can handle the workload; time will tell on that. We’re taking a bit of a gamble here, but based on our professional opinion, we believe he can handle it and be very, very effective at it, toting the rock.”
- With rumors surrounding 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, head coach Chip Kelly was quick to hand out praise to the team’s other signal-caller: Blaine Gabbert. “[I’m] impressed with Blaine,” Kelly said (via Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com). “You watch him the last couple of games he started. He’s another guy, you look at his skill set…He’s big. I’d never really dealt with Blaine because he came into the league before I came into the league, but just how big and physical and impressive he is. He’s a 6-4, 245-pound guy that can really run. I thought the last part of the season he played really well. It’ll be intriguing to work with him, too.”
- The Bears could use a young speed rusher off the edge, opines Brad Biggs of The Chicago Tribune. Lamarr Houston, Willie Young and Pernell McPhee showed an ability to get to the quarterback, but Biggs notes that the trio used their strength to get past the opposition. The writer would prefer the team brings in a quicker lineman.
