The Denver Broncos are waiting on Peyton Manning to make a decision on whether to retire or come back another year before negotiating with quarterback-in-waiting Brock Osweiler.
Broncos general manager John Elway last week told Manning, who turns 40 in March, to take his time on making the career decision.
Manning became the oldest quarterback to win the Super Bowl when the Broncos upset the Carolina Panthers 24-10 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif on Feb. 7.
Osweiler, 25, is set to become a free agent when the new league year begins on March 9 and several teams could be lining up to give Osweiler a significant payday. Osweiler started seven games this past season and went 5-2 while filling in for an injured Manning.
—New England Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski, arguably the best at his position in recent years, has moved on after missing a crucial extra point in the AFC Championship Game.
In the 20-18 playoff loss to the Denver Broncos on Jan. 24, Gostkowski missed a first-quarter point-after on New England’s first score. It was the first time he had missed a conversion kick since his rookie season in 2006, and came in the first season the NFL instituted a longer 33-yard PAT to not make them so automatic.
“I’ve always been hard on myself whenever I have a bad game, especially when we lose,” Gostkowski told ESPN Boston. “But I’ve never once hung my head down. You have to have a short memory in this game, but I’m always hard on myself for a couple days, even when we win and I have a miskick. It’s a perfectionist’s job — you strive for perfection.”
—New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, who permanently damaged his right hand as a result of a Fourth of July fireworks accident, has posted an X-ray of his surgically repaired hand.
JPP previously posted pictures before and after surgery and has now switched the avatar on his Twitter and Instagram pages to an X-ray of his hand.
Pierre-Paul, 27, had delayed last month’s surgery in order to play this past season. The latest procedure is intended to give Pierre-Paul more flexibility in his middle finger.
Pierre-Paul, who will become a free agent when the new league season begins on March 9, missed the first half of last season because of the injury.
—The videos of former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice attacking his fiancee inside a casino elevator in 2014 cost TMZ more than $100,000, according to The New Yorker.
Rice knocked out his then-fiancee and now-wife Janay Palmer Rice during the altercation in an elevator at an Atlantic City, N.J., casino on Feb. 15, 2014.
TMZ posted the first video four days later that showed Rice dragging his fiancee out of the elevator. That footage cost the gossip site $15,000, according to The New Yorker.
A second video of Rice throwing a punch and knocking his fiancee unconscious was released in September 2014 and effectively ended Rice’s NFL career. The New Yorker reported TMZ paid nearly $90,000 for the second video, which hit the site on Sept. 8.
—Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez has settled a lawsuit filed by a former associate who claimed Hernandez shot him in the face.
Attorneys for Alexander Bradley filed documents in federal court in Miami on Friday saying the suit has been settled. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
Bradley said Hernandez shot him in the right eye in February 2013 after they argued outside a Miami nightclub. Bradley claims he lost the ability to see out of the eye.
Hernandez is serving a life sentence in the June 2013 killing of Odin Lloyd, a semi-pro football player who was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancee.
—The Chicago Bears hired former Tulane head coach Curtis Johnson as their wide receivers coach.
In addition, the Bears hired Ben McDaniels as offensive assistant and promoted Pierre Ngo to assistant strength and conditioning coach on John Fox’s coaching staff.
Johnson, 54, has 32 years coaching experience, including the last four as head coach at Tulane after 28 seasons as a wide receivers coach at the NFL, collegiate and high school levels.
In four seasons (2012-15) at Tulane, Johnson compiled a 15-34 record, highlighted by the school’s first bowl bid in 11 years following the 2013 season.
—The Detroit Lions hired Brian Callahan as the team’s quarterbacks coach.
Callahan joins the coaching staff following a six-year stint with Denver, where he most recently served as offensive assistant/quarterbacks coach during the 2015 season en route to the Broncos’ Super Bowl 50 win over the Carolina Panthers.
Callahan’s father, Bill, is currently the offensive line coach for the Washington Redskins.