NFL Notes: Dolphins, Packers, Rams

Dolphins

James Walker of ESPN writes that the Dolphins face a “delicate balance” this summer with S T.J. McDonald, who will have to serve an eight-game suspension for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy.

McDonald will need to get reps during training camp in order to pick up a new system. However, Miami also needs to ensure that their other safeties are ready to go for the start of the season.

“I’m a football player. I want to play,” McDonald said. “I want to play no matter what. Preseason is definitely a stride for me, just to be able to get used to the system at full, live bullets and whatnot. But at the same time, there’s going to be guys that also need to get some time that will be there for Week 1. I understand that. So however the coaches want to use me, I’ll be ready for whatever.”

Packers

Packers CEO Mark Murphy said he wants Ted Thompson to continue as the team’s general manager and the job is his for as long as he wants.

“As long as he wants to continue to work, and he’s still doing a good job — and I think he still does a great job for us — we want him to continue to be our general manager,” Murphy said, via Jason Wilde of the Wisconsin State Journal. “At a point he decides he doesn’t want to do it anymore for whatever reason, then we would do a search.”

Rams

• Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk notes that Rams CB Trumaine Johnson has made an average salary of $15.336 million over the past two seasons under the franchise tag, which is higher than Redskins CB Josh Norman‘s $15 million annual salary.
• Florio reports that Johnson will not reach a long-term deal with the Rams by Monday’s deadline and he will “definitely” become an unrestricted free agent in 2018 since the tag cost could range to over $24 million.