NFL Notes: 49ers, Packers, Texans

49ers

49ers DB Jimmie Ward is set to earn $8.52 million guaranteed for the 2018 season, but even that salary may not ensure he’ll be a starter this season.

The 49ers could go with Richard Sherman, Ahkello Witherspoon and K’Waun Williams at cornerback with Adrian Colbert and Jaquiski Tartt as their starting safeties. This could leave Ward as the first backup at all five positions.

“It’s not going to be easy for (Ward) to start at any of those five (positions),” 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan said, via the San Francisco Chronicle. “Right now, he’s trying to do it at corner. We’ll reassess this at the end of OTAs and see how it is in training camp. If he’s not starting, that’s because those five guys in front of him are playing their positions very well and Jimmie will be the first guy most likely off the bench.”

Packers

Packers CB Quinton Rollins is working his way back from a ruptured Achilles, but he was able to take part in the team’s OTA practices last week on a limited basis.

“It feels good,” Rollins said of his Achilles, via PackersNews.com. “I didn’t have no setbacks since I started rehabbing. I’m day by day still with it, and every day is different. I’m just trying to take it one day at a time.”

Michael Cohen reports that there are members of the Packers’ scouting department who believe Rollins should move to safety, but it remains to be seen if the coaching staff agrees.

“I think for sure he can move to safety,” an AFC scout tells Cohen. “He’s a basketball player who played one year at corner. People are saying safety because he didn’t run extremely well and he has ball skills. I think you make him fail at corner first.”

Texans

According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, Texans OLB Jadeveon Clowney isn’t taking part in the team’s OTA practices while he continues to rehab his knee after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery following the season.

League sources have told Wilson that Clowney’s medical outlook is positive after he sought a second medical opinion from Dr. James Andrews.

While he’s not practicing, Clowney says he’ll be “ready to go.”

Clowney has also made it clear that he wants to be back with the Texans long term.

“I want to be here, too,” Clowney said. “Hopefully, they lock me in. I want to be here forever. I know it will come soon. It would mean a lot.”

We have him featured in our Top 25 – 2019 NFL Free Agents list.