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Chargers should be on the phone right now with Antonio Gates

With Hunter Henry possibly done for the season, the Chargers are reportedly weighing whether or not to bring back future Hall of Famer Antonio Gates.

He’s fine, Lynn said. “We just held him back because we can.”

“Basically, the school where I feel most comfortable at, great academics and very competitive football.”

Sillah’s teammate (and classmate) Izaiah Henderson is well on his way to 20 offers, as well. But the two stars’ decisions aren’t tethered to one another, he says.

“No, it doesn’t really matter to us. It’s whatever school feels best for him and whatever school feels best for me. So it’s not really like a priority.”

Sillah transferred from Franklin (N.J.) his sophomore year and hasn’t looked back. For now, he’s just living life — enjoying his blessings and preparing himself for his final high school campaign and college future, while teams throughout the Northeast continue to clamor over his signature.

Via Cam Inman of the San Jose Mercury News, the Bay Area had hoped to be in contention for Super Bowls LVII and LVIII, which are expected to be awarded to Arizona and New Orleans, respectively. The Bay Area will now turn its attention to the next two games — Super Bowls LVIII and LXIX — to be played in 2025 and 2026, respectively.

Per Inman, San Francisco (actually, San Francisco) is expected to compete with Las Vegas, Dallas, and Indianapolis. Eventually, the league will select the cities to approach with the opportunity to host the game. Until then, however, plenty of politicking will be taking place.

For San Francisco (actually, Santa Clara), the challenge becomes flipping its perfunctory hosting opportunity into a semi-regular spot. With a four-city rotation envisioned (L.A., Vegas, Miami, and Arizona or New Orleans), each half decade will include one wild-card spot.

As to Super Bowls LVIII and LXIX, it seems that Vegas will get one and that the other three cities would be in the mix for the other.

While the offense is more of the same, the defense has a completely different look.

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Report: Jaguars cut Jaelen Strong

The Jaguars waived wide receiver Jaelen Strong, Mike Kaye of First Coast News reports..

Houston waived the former third-round pick after that game. He played 19 games with the Texans, making 28 receptions for 292 yards and three touchdowns.

He rebounded with a strong 2017 and a great predraft season, with good performances at Shrine Game week and an excellent pro day. Hamilton is a precise route-runner with some YAC capability, a team captain from a military family who will be an A-plus in the locker room and an experienced slot receiver who knows how to work the middle. Older fans may remember Penn State’s Bobby Engram’s development into a productive possession receiver who played in the NFL forever. Hamilton, Penn State’s all-time leading receiver, has similar traits. I like the Courtland Sutton-Hamilton one-two punch at receiver in this draft class: a gamble-on-greatness player and a steadier option. They could be the Broncos’ starters in 2019.

The Vikings know a thing or two about finding contributors via avenues other than the draft. One of the team’s best receivers, Adam Thielen, wasn’t picked. Neither was a certain Hall of Fame defensive lineman named John Randle, who wasn’t selected back when the draft had 12 rounds.

The next few picks after Murphy were solid. Morgan Moses has evolved into a premier right tackle, particularly in pass protection. Spencer Long’s athleticism was great for Jay Gruden’s zone running game. Long recently joined the Jets in free agency. Bashaud Breeland and Ryan Grant became regular contributors, though never difference-makers. Washington’s first five picks, aside from Moses, bring us back to the philosophical How do you grade a draft that yielded decent players who join other teams five years later?

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Report: Sale of Panthers to David Tepper getting closer

The sale of the Panthers could be nearing a close, and the most likely buyer remains the guy with the most money who is already in the club.

South Carolina financier Ben Navarro was recently reported as trying to lure Peyton Manning into his group, and is reported to have made the highest bid, in the $2.5 billion range. But there are questions in the league about his liquidity and his financing.

La Canfora also mentioned one potential clause in the sale which would require Tepper to pay an amount ($200 million to $300 million was posited) if he moved the team within a certain time frame. That would allow the league to offer an inflated number for the final sale price, which will come in handy at a time when many around the league think other teams are coming up for sale in the next few years.

It dropped, video review confirmed that Middleton got the shot off in time and Game 1 was headed to overtime.

Previously the first athlete to play in both the Under Armour All-America football and baseball national high school all-star games, Murray has seen his pro baseball stock soar this spring. Showcasing unforeseen power, Murray is second on the Sooners in home runs and stolen bases. Murray came into the weekend batting .355 in Big 12 play with a sparkling on-base percentage of .488.

Yet with his mind inevitably looking ahead to the spring game, Murray went 0-for-5 in a 7-6 loss to Texas on Friday night. Then, worn out from the spring game, Murray went 0-for-5 once more in Saturday’s 5-3 defeat.

“He might have been a little bit tired,” said Oklahoma baseball coach Skip Johnson, who a couple of weeks ago told Murray to go rest in the clubhouse after the Sooners had jumped to a big middle-inning lead; an inning later, Johnson found Murray out cold in a recliner, the effects of a football practice from earlier in the day. “But he’s a competitive kid. That’s what you like about him.”

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NFL trade news: Patriots send WR Brandin Cooks to Rams, stockpile draft picks

The Patriots have traded reciever Brandin Cooks and a fourth-round pick to the Rams for the 23rd overall pick in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft, the team announced Wednesday.

The Rams were linked to Odell Beckham Jr. this offseason but opted for Cooks, who was due a $8.5 million club option before the season.

The Brewers’ three shutouts this season have come against three of the toughest pitchers in the division: St. Louis’ Carlos Martinez, and along with the Cubs’ Jon Lester and Quintana.

“We’ve been pitching well. We have got to pick it up offensively, as much as anything,” Counsell said.

Cubs: RHP Tyler Chatwood (0-1) gets the ball for the home opener. He has a 1.50 ERA in two career starts against the Pirates.

Brewers: Jhoulys Chacin (0-1) takes the hill when the team opens a six-game road trip at St. Louis. The right-hander is 0-6 with a 5.89 career ERA against the Cardinals.

Martin reportedly had a loaded shotgun, a large knife and an axe in his car when police took him into custody Feb. 23. His girlfriend said Martin’s anger and depression had worsened over the last month and he began writing on the walls of his home.

The Instagram threat, which came from a private but verified account, included a photo of a gun and bullets and was hashtagged #HarvardWestlake and #MiamiDolphins. Former Dolphins teammates Richie Incognito and Mike Pouncey, as well as two other people, were tagged in the post.

Martin was the target of bullying in the Dolphins locker room from 2012-13, largely perpetuated by Incognito and Pouncey. He was also apparently the victim of bullying at Harvard-Westlake, which filed a workplace violence prevention restraining order against Martin.

The requested order prohibits Martin from coming closer than 150 yards from the campus of his alma mater.

Martin, who hasn’t played in the NFL since 2015, has previously posted on social media that he suffered from depression and attempted to commit suicide.

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New NFL rule bans plays on which player lowers head to initiate contact

In hopes to improve player safety the NFL announced a rule change Tuesday that will ban all plays on which a player lowers his head to initiate contact with his helmet.

For us this is a pretty significant change, NFL Competition Committee Chairman Rich McKay said during a news conference at the annual league meeting in Orlando. This is not situational protection. … In this, we’re basically getting to a technique that is just too dangerous for both the player doing it and the player that’s getting hit.

This has very little requirement to it. This is simply if you lower your head to initiate contact and you make contact with an opponent it’s a foul.

Playing Rule Article 8: It is a foul if a player lowers his head to initiate and make contact with his helmet against an opponent. The player may be disqualified. Applies to any player anywhere on the field. The player may be disqualified.

Suarez came up again with two on in the eighth and drove a 0-1 fastball from George Kontos (0-1) over the wall in left. He finished with three hits.

Wandy Peralta (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings for the win and Raisel Iglesias worked the ninth for his second save.

I thought they pitched really well, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. It wasn’t about our approach, it was that the pitching was really hard to hit from my perspective.

Cincinnati right-hander Sal Romano allowed four runs and seven hits in five innings. He struck out one and walked one.

Machado’s five homers off Sabathia are the most he’s had against any pitcher in his career. It marked the shortest start of the young season for Sabathia. He lasted five innings and threw 84 pitches in his season debut last week at Toronto.

Sabathia, 37, was mostly healthy in spring training. He had an ankle injury that sidelined him briefly, but otherwise he made it to the regular season with no injury issues. Last season, he spent time on the disabled list with a strained left hamstring and right knee inflammation.

Drury and Wade were replaced in the sixth and ninth, respectively. According to Boone, Drury had issues with migraines and blurred vision. Wade was dealing with flu-like symptoms.

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Panthers sale appears to be down to two bidders

The sale of the Panthers appears to be in the final stretches, and one bidder presumed to be a favorite is reportedly out.

According to Ken Belson of the New York Times, Steelers minority owner David Tepper is out of the bidding to buy the team from Jerry Richardson.

Since Tepper had already been approved to join the club, his bid would have been fast-tracked by other owners if his was the bid chosen by Richardson. But recent reports suggested he wasn’t prepared to be the high bidder, or to approach others.

Roseman has successfully tapped into free agency to sign a couple Pro Bowlers — safety Malcolm Jenkins in 2014 and guard Brandon Brooks in 2016 — plus leading tackler Nigel Bradham at linebacker in 2016. Foles also was brought back in ’16.

Roseman also acquired talented receiver Alshon Jeffery last season in free agency. He then worked the trade market for a top corner in Ronald Darby and a good running back in Jay Ajayi.

In Humboldt, the Chiefs joined thousands more who gathered in the Broncos’ 1,854-seat home arena. Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, was in attendance. Chiefs players wore their blue and yellow jerseys and sat together in the stands. During the ceremony, some of the players cried. Others smiled, which Ditto says was as much catharsis as it was a step forward in the healing process.

The Delisle team will meet on Monday for the first time since the tragedy. “Our league is based out of Saskatchewan, just like they are, and we go to the same lengths they do,” Ditto said. “We know the roads they travel very well. I know that exact intersection [where the accident] happened.”

Ditto is dreading the idea of boarding a bus again. He knows how heart-wrenching it will be for him and his players. But at the same time, he will remind his team that, despite the tragedy, “the bus is still a safe way to travel. We need to keep reiterating that.”

There’s another thing Ditto wants his team to remember.

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Johnny Manziel turns in mediocre performance in Spring League game

Johnny Manziel has returned to the football field, but he’s a long way from a return to the NFL.

Manziel completed nine of 15 passes for 82 yards with one touchdown and three sacks in his first game for The Spring League, a minor league that Manziel is hoping will showcase his talent to NFL scouts.

After the game, Manziel admitted that his team’s offense was sloppy at times but said he was glad to be playing football again.

Two additional distinctions from the NFL and college product:

Every drive will start at the offense’s 25-yard line with no kickoff. As for onside kick attempts . . .

“If a team elected to onsides kick at any point in the game, they get the ball on their 35-yard line with fourth-and-10,” Polian said. “It’s do-or-die. If you make it, you keep going. If you don’t, the other team gets the ball on your 35-yard line.”

There will be just four possible replays per game two per team with no “Big Brother” like the NFL’s officiating headquarters at 345 Park Ave. in New York.

“You continue to be a fan and I will continue being the man,” Sanders told Byard.

Yesterday, as the Titans unveiled their redesigned uniforms, they posted a video that showed the players reacting as they saw their new jerseys for the first time. One of the players featured in the video was Byard, who wore a shirt with “Just a Fan” printed on it.

Byard is clearly using Sanders’ slight as offseason motivation, aiming for another All-Pro selection in 2018. Perhaps by then Sanders will know who he is.

None of this is fair to Beckham. Whether it’s Cris Carter or Ray Lewis, criticism from prominent former players could be rooted in the fact that Beckham has decided not to kiss the ring. Lewis specifically equates Beckham’s troubles to the fact that they made a connection and Beckham eventually ended it. Who’s to say that Beckham didn’t simply decide after some of their interactions that Lewis was making no sense and, in turn, providing no benefit?

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True significance of new helmet rule remains unknown

More than a week after the NFL passed a new rule that appears to represent a seismic change to football as we know it, it’s still not clear to media and fans what the rule will, or won’t, be. It’s also not clear to coaches as to what the prohibition against lowering the helmet to initiate impact means.

“I think it’s a work in progress,” Texans coach Bill O’Brien said during a Wednesday visit to PFT Live. “I know that we had great meetings. For me, it was one of the best owners meetings that I’ve been to in the five years I’ve been the head coach here.

“Last year, there were five or six plays where you could say that that the head was used as a weapon,” O’Brien said. “There weren’t a ton of plays. We have to continue to work towards taking the head out of the game. That’s really something that we’re doing with the way we teach, with the way we officiate, the way we scheme. Everything that we do we’re thinking about those things. I think we’re on the right track, but I think it’s going to take a while to get that over the next 60 to 90 days get that rule written exactly the way we want it so that the officials can officiate it properly.”

“There was no fighting, there was no pushing,” attorney Rusty Hardin told NJ.com. “The entire thing is ludicrous. That’s what I think we’ll find when it’s all over.”

The charge Bennett is facing is serious: It’s injury to the elderly, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Bennett is accused of pushing his way onto the field in Houston to celebrate after his brother, then-Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett, and his team won the Super Bowl. In the process, the authorities allege, Bennett injured an elderly paraplegic woman who was working on the event staff at the game.

But Hardin said Bennett is not overly concerned because he knows he’s innocent and believes that when all the evidence comes to light, the charges will be shown to be trumped up.

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Vontae Davis “able to do everything” after groin surgery

Right after signing with the Bills as a free agent in early March, cornerback Vontae Davis said he wasn’t sure what his workload would be during the team’s offseason program.

Davis had groin surgery after being released by the Colts last November and said he would “probably be limited” when the Bills got to work. Davis revisited the issue more recently, however, and his outlook regarding what he’s ready to do has changed over the last month.

Grizzlies: MarShon Brooks, who averaged nearly 24 points over his first five games with the team since joining last month fresh from the Chinese league, missed 12 of 16 shots against tough defense from Butler and finished with 14 points.

“Just going out there playing hard, making them work for everything,” Brooks said.

Timberwolves: Backup center Cole Aldrich, who has logged just 49 minutes all season, was honored before the game with the Flip Saunders Legacy Award for community service in honor of the team’s late executive and coach. Aldrich had an assist in the final minute.

The Bucs made him a fifth-round pick in 2012, and he played in three games as a rookie before joining the Eagles. In his career, Goode has played 64 games with four starts.

He has 42 tackles, four tackles for loss, a sack and four pass breakups in his career. Goode also has contributed 42 special teams tackles as a core special teams player.

“(There were) five or six times in a four- or five-month period where I spent a full 24 hours at (Collins’) office, working with him until he felt comfortable giving me the green light,” said Cravens, who was cleared to resume football activities in December.

With all of that, though, Washington clearly was motivated to get closure. After picking Cravens in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft and seeing him play himself into the team’s long-term plans as a rookie when he was healthy, Washington a year later ended up netting a fifth-round pick, a conditional sixth-rounder and earlier picks in this year’s fourth and fifth rounds for him.

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Gray, Yankees bounce back against Orioles, win 8-3

Gray (1-0) dodged trouble with his final batter thanks to newcomer Jace Peterson, who was signed to a major league contract before the game. With runners on second and third and two outs, Peterson snagged Pedro Alvarez’s hard-hit liner on the run, slamming into the left-field wall after making an acrobatic catch.

“You’ve got to prepare to be ready for this opportunity always, no matter what happens in the spring or what happens the day before,” said Peterson, who had played just 40 of his 383 big league games in left field before Saturday. “I was fortunate to run it down and make the play.”

David Robertson entered in the seventh with one out and runners on second and third, fanning the dangerous Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop to preserve the 5-3 lead. Robertson struck out four of the five batters he faced.

For Hurst, there’s no new information to obtain. Doctors flagged the heart problem and prevented him from working out at the Scouting Combine. He later received separate clearance to participate in the Michigan Pro Day.

It’s not uncommon, either as to internal or orthopedic issues, for players to be prevented from working out in Indianapolis. Given that the Combine workouts are lower on the list of priorities than medical examinations or interviews, the folks in charge of the Combine will err on the side of caution when it comes to potentially letting an overly-competitive player assume a risk that, objectively speaking, is unnecessary.

For heart problems, there’s a separate component to the decision to keep players from working out. If the worst-case scenario happens at a time when doctors know or should know there’s a problem, there could be moral, and legal, responsibility.

Calgary entered the night in an offensive funk, having mustered only nine goals over the previous nine games, eight of them losses. The seven goals was the club’s biggest offensive outburst since a 7-4 victory over St. Louis on Nov. 13.

“It’s one of those things. Tonight, for some reason, everything bounced in and I think we could have had even more,” Flames captain Mark Giordano said. “It’s nice to end it on that note, but it’s been a tough year and obviously a disappointing year.”

Before the game, players from both teams and the officials formed a circle at center ice for a moment of silence for the 15 people who lost their lives in the Humboldt Broncos bus accident.

“You have those guys, that community, the team, on your mind all day,” Giordano said. “We’re one big community, the hockey community, there’s a lot of people feeling this one.”

Afterward, the Saddledome crowd broke into a chant of “Broncos! Broncos!”