NFL Notes: Bills, Browns, Dolphins, Eagles, Rams, & Texans

Bills

• Bills S Aaron Williams, who returned off the short-term injured reserve on Thursday, revealed that he underwent surgery to repair the neck injury he sustained in Week 2 and was “cautioned” by doctors that his career might be over. (Mike Rodak)
• Williams said he is not counting out retiring and will know whether to continue his career after taking his “first hit” on the playing field. (Matthew Fairburn)

Browns

• ESPN’s Football Power Index predicts the Browns to have a 60 percent probability of attaining the No. 1 overall pick for the 2016 NFL Draft at this point in time, per Adam Schefter.
• Pettine said offensive assistant Kurt Roper will finish the season with the Browns before departing to become the offensive coordinator at the University of South Carolina. (Mary Kay Cabot)
• Pettine said he will soon have more information on CB Joe Haden and WR Andrew Hawkins‘ concussion injuries, and if they are severe enough to place them on the season-ending injured reserve. (Mary Kay Cabot)

Dolphins

• Former CFL player G Jovan Olafioye visited the Dolphins on Thursday.

Eagles

• HC Chip Kelly said RB LeSean McCoy was traded to the Bills in order to free up money to acquire QB Sam Bradford. (Eliot Shorr-Parks)
• Kelly went on to say that McCoy‘s agent told the Eagles that his client would not agree to a restructured contract. (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

Rams

According to Nicholas J.C Pistor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, an aldermanic committee voted in favor of backing a proposal where St. Louis would finance $150 million of a proposed $1 billion towards a riverfront football stadium.

The bill will now move to a vote of the full Board of Aldermen, who will debate on the situation on Friday. Procedural rules also require the board to return next week to take a final vote.

However, Pistor notes that the actual construction of a new stadium remains far from certain, regardless of the full board approving of the plan. For any construction to take place, St. Louis still requires additional financial support from both the NFL and team owners towards construction costs.

It is worth mentioning that NFL Executive Vice President Eric Grubman said during a radio interview that he believes St. Louis falls short of a Los Angeles proposal.

“St. Louis will fall short of having a compelling proposal that would attract the Rams,” Grubman said. “To that end, and I don’t mean to oversimplify and I’m certainly not going to negotiate the individual points: the stadium is going to cost more than is at the drawing board at the moment, the funding has declined and new taxes are being proposed to the Rams.”

The NFL is expected to decide next month whether the Rams, Raiders, or Chargers will move to Los Angeles

Texans

Texans DE J.J. Watt broke his left-hand during Wednesday’s practice, but will still play in Week 14 using a cast on the injured hand.

“I broke my hand in practice yesterday and will play in the game Sunday. Football is a game where things happen,” said Watt, per Aaron Wilson.