Around the NFL: Billy Price signs on as Cardinals release Marcus Cooper and Earl Thomas stays away
Tuesday 22 May 2018 11:29, UK
First-round pick Billy Price has signed a four-year contract worth around $10m with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Price, the 21st overall pick in the 2018 draft, sustained a partially torn pectoral during bench press drills at the NFL Scouting Combine on March 1, but following surgery, Price's surgeon sent a letter to all 32 NFL teams with a projection for a full recovery in no more than two months.
A four-year starter and two-time All-American for the Buckeyes, Price played left guard, right guard and center.
Meanwhile, Richie Incognito is free to explore the open market, if he so chooses, after the Buffalo Bills released him from the reserve/retired list on Monday.
Incognito suddenly retired last month, citing health concerns from his personal physician, but multiple reports indicate his contract played a major role. Incognito reportedly asked the Bills to address his contract in the days before he posted "I'm done" via Twitter.
"I'm done, I'm done, that's it," Incognito said in confirming his retirement to the Buffalo News in April. "It's been a long career. My liver and kidneys are shutting down. Nothing I can't restore with some balance, but the stress is killing me."
Since the offseason began, Incognito fired his agent via Twitter and agreed to a pay cut with a base salary of $3.65 million.
In Seattle, Earl Thomas did not report to the Seattle Seahawks' facility on Monday after previously skipping a voluntary three-day minicamp, sparking concern that a protracted holdout over his contract status might be in the offing.
Thomas is in the final year of his current contract and has a base salary of $8.5 million and while head coach Pete Carroll was hopeful Thomas would be back for organized team activities this week, there is no indication he will be on the field any time soon.
"I think he's an amazing player, he's an amazing person, he's a Hall of Famer," Wagner said in a radio interview. "And just let him know that we're over here and we're wishing for the best in that situation and we're thinking about him.
"He needs to know that we appreciate him over here. Because he's a talent that - you're not going to ever see another person like him ever again play the football field."
In Arizona, the Cardinals have released cornerback Marcus Cooper after the team acquired cornerback Jamar Taylor in a trade with the Cleveland Browns.
Taylor enters summer workouts as the favourite to win the starting cornerback spot opposite Patrick Peterson.
Cooper signed with the Cardinals on April 19 having played with the New York Jets and Houston Texans over the last four seasons.
The move makes room for Taylor on the 90-man roster. Arizona sent a 2020 sixth-round pick to the Browns for Taylor.
