NFC Notes: Lions, Redskins, Saints

Lions

• Ian Rapoport reports that Lions RB Kerryon Johnson will undergo an MRI on his knee Monday, but the early word is that it’s a knee sprain and there isn’t any damage to his ACL tear.
• Pro Football Talk reports that Johnson is week to week with a sprained knee.

Redskins

• Former Chargers physician David Chao mentions that Redskins QB Alex Smith has an “excellent chance” to recover in time for the start of the 2019 season, despite suffering a gruesome injury on Sunday.
• Chao notes that Smith’s injury is lower on the leg and likely involves the joint with the ankle fracture and dislocation rather than a true tibia/fibula fracture, which what Joe Theismann suffered.
• Mike Florio of PFT reports that the Redskins have no interest in QB Colin Kaepernick and haven’t contacted him about a tryout following the injury to Smith.
• A source tells Florio that Redskins president Bruce Allen has previously has made clear within the organization his position that Kaepernick won’t be signed by Washington, ever.
• The Redskins are scheduled to bring in free agent quarterbacks for tryouts on Monday. (NFLTR)

Saints

Sean Payton mentioned in an interview with Graham Bensinger that the NFL tried to get Tom Benson to fire him and had two owners contact Benson about doing so.

“When you say a year and you’re not able to talk to any coach, you’re not able to talk to any other player, and you know that the league office actually contacted two other owners to talk to Mr. Benson about finding a way to have you fired, like they are trying to break you,” Payton said, via Pro Football Talk.

“I just know that the late Mr. Benson, to his credit, came to me and said, ‘I’ve just gotten two calls from two other league owners, and I know that came from the league office.”

Payton likened the NFL to a political party in terms of how they get their message out when it comes to pushing their agenda.

“One of the things that we’ve seen, and it’s just the truth,” Payton said. “Our league’s no different than a large political party. They’re experts at pushing their message through the media. Look, it was in full force. ‘It’ meaning the league, the machine, in pushing their message out early.”

Payton even said that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is too emotional when it comes to handing out punishment.

“Look, it’s one of the weaknesses of our Commissioner. There’s too much emotion,” Payton said. “When the penalties came down, it was just, it was foolish.”