NFL Rumors: Peyton Manning, China, Draft, & Bills

Peyton Manning

• Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead reports that Peyton Manning recently reached out to John Madden about advice regarding his future.
• According to McIntyre, Madden told Manning to either go the “[John] Elway path or get a piece of ownership.”
• Manning reportedly has an offer to be an NFL analyst for CBS Sports and join Jim Nantz in the booth.
• For what it’s worth, Manning has been linked to the Titans as a potential owner.

China

At this year’s owners meeting, news surfaced that the NFL plans to play a game in China during the 2018 season.

However, while there’s support within the league to continue to explore ways to growth revenue, not everyone is on the board with the idea.

According to ESPN’s Ashley Fox, executives from the Packers and Giants are opposed to the idea, due to the impact it would have on teams.

These teams are concerned about having to fly half a day or more each way and the possibility that this could put a team at a competitive disadvantage for that game and beyond.

“We would not be in support of that,” Murphy said at the NFL owners meeting in March. “That’s such a long trip. If they do it, it would make sense for West Coast teams — shorter trip for them. But that wouldn’t be something we would want to do.”

Draft

ESPN’s Jon Gruden said Thursday that he believes Michigan State QB Connor Cook is the best quarterback in this year’s draft class. (Dianna Marie Russini)

• Ian Rapoport reports that the Jets had five people in attendance for Memphis QB Paxton Lynch’s Pro Day while the Chargers had three.
• Alabama DL A’Shawn Robinson will visit the Lions, Panthers and Jets. (Eddie Borsilli)
• Penn State DE Carl Nassib took a predraft visit to the Buccaneers on Wednesday. (Ian Rapoport)
• Wisconsin S Michael Caputo is visiting with the Redskins on Thursday. (Aaron Wilson)
• UCLA OL Caleb Benenoch visited with the Steelers on Wednesday and will meet with the Texans next. (Aaron Wilson)
• BYU WR Mitch Mathews will visit with the Chiefs and Packers in the coming weeks. (Brett Tessler)

Bills

Bills GM Doug Whaley mentioned that they want Tyrod Taylor to be their long-term solution at quarterback, but added “time will tell.”

“We want him to be, he wants to be, and time will tell,” Whaley said, via NFL.com. “But we’re excited about what he did last year — he went 8-6 as a starter. There is a lot of excitement around our football team.

“I’ll tell you this, I know he’s a big competitor and he’s going to want to raise his level of his game next year and take the next step and we are excited and we’re going to try to give him as much ammunition around him for him to succeed.”

In regards to a contract extension for Taylor, Whaley wouldn’t rule anything out, but said that it would have to make sense for them right now.

“I’ll never say never. We’re working on it,” Whaley said. “We look at it this way, if there is a deal out there that makes him feel comfortable and want it, and it works for us as a team, we will have no issues consummating that deal.”