NFL Notes: 49ers, Bengals, Patriots, Saints & Vikings

49ers

• Matt Barrows reports that new 49ers HC Chip Kelly told the team during his interviews that he likes both quarterbacks Colin Kaepernick and Blaine Gabbert.
• According to Barrows, both the 49ers and Kelly plan to keep their options open.
• Former NFL executive Joe Banner wonders if Kelly could still elect to release Kaepernick and then sign Sam Bradford to a contract.

Bengals

• Bengals DE Carlos Dunlap has been named to the 2016 Pro Bowl as replacement for Jets DE Muhammad Wilkerson.

Patriots

• ESPN’s Mike Reiss and Adam Schefter report that Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski spent part of Thursday in a Boston hospital getting treatment on his injured right knee.
• According to the report, Gronkowski received an injection in his knee, but is believed to be in line to play against the Chiefs this weekend.
• Even so, the Patriots will still wait and see how he’s feeling on game day.

Saints

According to Saints GM Mickey Loomis, he never received a call from another team about HC Sean Payton being available for trade.

“Here’s what I can tell you: I never had a discussion with another team. No one called me and I never called anyone else,” Loomis said, Evan Woodbery of the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Loomis added that Payton made it clear that he wanted to remain in New Orleans.

“(Payton’s) first statement when he walked in the room was, ‘Hey, I want to be here. I want to be coach for the Saints.’ It never really went beyond that,” Loomis said. “Then it was just a matter of how are we going to approach this season, what are the things we need to do, and let’s get going.”

Vikings

• Vikings DE Everson Griffen has been named to the 2016 Pro Bowl as replacement for Texans DE J.J. Watt.