NFL Notes: Cardinals, Patriots, Rams, Seahawks

Cardinals

Cardinals HC Bruce Arians compared newly signed QB Blaine Gabbert to former Browns No. 1 overall pick Tim Couch.

“Everybody claims Tim Couch was a bust,” Arians said, via Josh Weinfuss of ESPN. “And Tim Couch was a hell of a player. The last time the Browns went to the playoffs [in 2002] he took them there. Broke his leg in the last game. But he was broken up. I got him his third year. He’s had a labrum, his elbow. Blaine had all of those issues getting broken up.

“It’s a fresh start for him.”

According to Arians, Gabbert had an “extremely great” workout two weeks ago.

“He can really spin it,” Arians said. “He’s got great velocity but he’s also got great accuracy when he takes something off of it. I was really impressed with that and I was really impressed with his recall from the [former Jacksonville coach Mike] Mularkey offense, that is similar to ours. [Gabbert] can spit it out and tell me what we call ‘62’ and they call ‘62’: ‘I’m hot off SAM…’ I said, ‘You got it.’

“I was really pleased with that. We’ll throw him in the mix and see how he comes out.”

Patriots

• Bruce Feldman of FOX Sports reports that the Patriots are expected to hire UT-Chattanooga outside linebackers coach DeMarcus Covington.

Rams

The Rams have said that they want WR Tavon Austin to play a similar role for them to the one DeSean Jackson did in HC Sean McVay’s offense with the Redskins.

“He’s shown he can track the ball down the field,” McVay said, via ESPN.com. “Really, as far as establishing him as a deep threat, I think we’re just looking for all our receivers to be complete. You want to be able to have a short, intermediate and deep-route tree. And I think it gives you a little bit more route versatility so people can’t squat on you. You certainly want to be cognizant of accentuating guys’ skill set, but also not being regulated in terms of, ‘This is what they do.’ That’s the thing that he’s really embraced, and we’re looking to do that with Tavon.”

Seahawks

• Field Yates notes that today is the first weigh-in for Seahawks RB Eddie Lacy. He stands to make $55,000 if weighs 255 pounds or less.
• Lacy checked in at 253 pounds and as a result secured the $55,000 payment. (Sports Trust Advisors)