NFL Notes: 49ers, Eagles, Patriots

49ers

49ers TE Vance McDonald said he was too focused on writing a best man speech to be upset about the report that San Francisco attempted to trade him during the recent draft.

“I still had my best man speech to do,” McDonald said, via ESPN.com. “I had a little more foregoing priority at that point. But no, it wasn’t [upsetting]. As soon as I heard it, immediately I was going to have the mindset that this isn’t going to change anything and I’m going to end up where I end up and I’m going to continue doing everything I can to be a better football player.”

McDonald mentioned that he spoke with both HC Kyle Shanahan and GM John Lynch, who were both upfront with him about the trade talks.

“I talked to Coach Shanahan that night; it was a great talk,” McDonald said. “Then, the following Monday, I came in and we had another meeting. You’ve got a 2-14 team, obviously there’s a lot of things that you can improve on, a lot of spots, a lot of things that you need to improve upon from last season. If teams are going to call and inquire about you, then obviously the next step is to see what it would require for a trade. Then after that, you have got to call every other team. That’s exactly what happened for me.”

Eagles

• Jimmy Kempski of PhillyVoice.com writes that if the Eagles were to release veteran RB Ryan Mathews today, they would have to cut him with a failed physical designation.
• According to Kempski, this could potentially leave the Eagles on the hook to pay his injury protection benefit, which would cost them 50 percent of his salary up to $1,150,000.
• This means that the Eagles would either have to pay him this amount of money or hope he could pass a physical for another team.

Patriots

• Ben Volin of the Boston Globe writes that the Patriots’ recent decision to rework TE Rob Gronkowski‘s contract and give him the opportunity to be the highest paid tight end in the NFL this season was simply about ensuring he was happy and motivated.
• In order for Gronkowski to activate the incentives included in his new deal, he’s going to have to play up to 90 percent of the team’s snaps. In recent years, the Pats have actually monitored his usage to ensure he’s healthy, which hs prevented him from playing 90 percent of the team’s snaps since 2011.
• In total, the Patriots have committed $415,500 in guaranteed money to their 18 undrafted rookies with LB Harvey Langi getting the most guaranteed money of any undrafted rookie in the NFL at $115,000.
• Other notable guarantees include TE Jacob Hollister ($90,000), Cody Hollister ($20,000), CB D.J. Killings ($31,000) and WR Austin Carr ($30,000).