NFL Notes: Matt Forte, Jets, Patriots & Vikings

Matt Forte

Adam Schefter reports that veteran RB Matt Forte flew to New Jersey to meet with the Jets at the start of free agency with the expectation of signing a contract with the team.

However, the Jets had some concerns about his knee and delayed signing him to a contract. Forte got antsy about the Jets’ reluctance to sign him and responded by scheduling a flight to New England with the intention of signing a contract with the Patriots.

Schefter says that it was then that the Jets brushed aside the concerns about Forte’s knee and offered him a three-year, $12 million contract.

Jets

• Rich Cimini of ESPN wonders if there’s a disconnect between Jets GM Mike Maccagnan and HC Todd Bowles when it comes to some of the team’s personnel moves such as WR Jeremy Ross, TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins, RB C.J. Spiller, QBs Ryan Fitzpatrick and Bryce Petty.

Patriots

• Mike Reiss of ESPN reports that no date has been set for Patriots DT Alan Branch‘s appeal of his four-game suspension for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy.
• This means that Branch will continue to play for the time being but this could force him to sit out later on in the year.
• A source tells Reiss that he expects Branch’s appeal to be heard in a month or so.

Vikings

Former Vikings OC Norv Turner tells Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times that he and HC Mike Zimmer had “different ideas” about how to fix the team’s offensive issues.

“Mike and I just had different ideas about what we needed to do and how we needed to do it,” Turner said. “It wasn’t going to work, so I removed myself from it.”

Turner added that he still hasn’t decided to retire as an NFL coach.

“I got fired with three games to go in Washington [at the end of the 2000 season], and that was weird,” Turner said. “But this is totally different. I’ve talked to some of my friends who have retired, and they say, ‘Retirement’s not that bad. You should make sure you give it a real good look.’ But no.”