The New Orleans Saints have emerged as a candidate to acquire Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr.
The Raiders granted Carr permission to speak with the Saints' front office and he will visit the team on Wednesday, according to multiple reports. It will be the first known meeting between Carr and a potential suitor.
Previous reporting indicated that the Raiders would only allow Carr to meet with teams willing to meet the team’s asking price in trade negotiations.
While there is reportedly no trade imminent, the visit firmly establishes New Orleans as a serious contender to land the nine-year veteran quarterback.
Carr, who has a no-trade clause, signed a three-year, $121.5million extension last April, but was benched for the final two games of the 2022 season in what was called a mutual decision.
Over $40m in Carr's contract becomes guaranteed on February 15, after which the four-time Pro Bowler would become cumbersome to trade.
The trigger date, which Carr has declined to renegotiate, forces the Raiders to urgently pursue a trade partner that both meets the team's asking price and pleases Carr enough to convince him to waive his no-trade clause.
The Saints are looking to improve a quarterback group that included Jameis Winston and Andy Dalton last season, with Taysom Hill continuing to take snaps as a gadget option.
New Orleans are projected to be well over the 2023 salary cap as currently constituted, and would need to restructure a number of contracts – including Carr's – if a trade were to materialise.
Saints coach Dennis Allen was the Raiders' head man in 2014 when the franchise drafted Carr in the second round and started him as a rookie.
Foster Moreau puts NFL career on hold to fight cancer
NFL tight end Foster Moreau revealed he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma during a physical with the New Orleans Saints.
The 25-year-old is a free agent following his release from the Las Vegas Raiders, who drafted him in 2019, and was diagnosed during a visit to his hometown team in free agency.
Moreau's hunt for a new team will now be halted as he prepares for treatment, though he plans to continue his NFL career in the future.
"Through somewhat of a miraculous process, this free agency period has been life changing for me," he posted on Twitter.
"During a routine physical conducted by the Saints medical team down in New Orleans, I've come to learn that I have Hodgkin's lymphoma and will be stepping away from football at this time to fight a new opponent: Cancer.
"I'm grateful for the support and thankful for the people who have stood firm with me. There hasn't been a single step I've taken without hundreds of people lighting the path before me and I will continue to seek their guidance.
"That being said, I'll go kick this thing's ass and get back to doing what I love."
In four seasons with the Raiders, Moreau had 91 receptions for 1,107 total yards, including a career-high 420 in 2022.
Jets reach deal with Hardman, trade fellow WR Moore to Browns
The New York Jets have added a wide receiver while getting rid of another, agreeing to a one-year contract with free agent Mecole Hardman and trading Elijah Moore to the Cleveland Browns.
According to NFL.com, New York will receive the Browns' second-round pick (42 overall) in this year's draft and will send Cleveland their third-round selection (74 overall) for Moore, who showed promise as a rookie in 2021 but had his role diminished this past season and requested a trade in October.
Moore became expendable after the Jets struck a deal with Hardman that could be worth up to $6.5million. The former Kansas City Chief joins a revamped receivers corps that also includes ex-Green Bay Packer Allen Lazard, who agreed to a four-year, $44m contract last week.
Swapping Moore also allows New York to boost its draft capital for a much-rumoured trade for four-time NFL MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers, Lazard's former Green Bay team-mate.
Hardman figures to replace Moore as the Jets' primary slot receiver and recorded career highs of 59 catches and 693 receiving yards in 2021.
The four-year veteran's numbers dropped to 25 receptions and 297 yards last season as he missed nine games with an abdominal injury that later required surgery, causing him to miss most of the Chiefs' playoff run to their second Super Bowl title in four years.
A second-round pick in the 2021 draft, Moore caught 43 passes for 538 yards and a team-high five touchdowns during his rookie year but began to be phased out of the offense after the first four games of last season. The soon-to-be 23-year-old had just 22 catches, 254 receiving yards and one touchdown over the Jets' final 13 games.
Moore was also benched for one game after reportedly getting into a heated disagreement with then-offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur in October, which prompted a trade request the Jets would not grant at the time.
He now joins a Cleveland team in need of a slot receiver to pair with 2022 starters Amari Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones.
The Browns are now without a pick until the 74th selection of the upcoming draft. Cleveland previously traded their first and third-round choices to Houston in the deal that sent quarterback Deshaun Watson from the Texans to the Browns.
Three-time Super Bowl champion Hightower retires from NFL
Former New England Patriots linebacker D'Onta Hightower has retired from the NFL.
A first-round pick in the 2012 draft out of Alabama, Hightower spent his entire career with the Patriots, playing a pivotal role in three Super Bowl championships.
After helping the Patriots defeat the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX at the end of the 2014 season, bringing down Marshawn Lynch short of the endzone on the play prior to Malcolm Butler's game-winning interception, Hightower made a key contribution in their remarkable comeback against the Atlanta Falcons two years later.
His strip sack of Matt Ryan in the fourth quarter gave the Patriots the ball deep in Falcons' territory, allowing New England to cut it to a one-score game as they incredibly fought back from 28-3 down to prevail in Super Bowl LI.
Hightower also capped the 2018 season with a title, the Patriots' defense holding the Los Angeles Rams to a field goal in a 13-3 success in Super Bowl LIII having lost a thriller to the Philadelphia Eagles a year earlier.
A two-time Pro Bowler, Hightower did not play in the 2022 season after his contract expired.
Hightower wrote in an article for the Players' Tribune: "Today, I am officially retiring from the NFL. I know these announcements always feel bittersweet, but I can't think of a better story than the one I wrote in New England. A decade, three Super Bowls, two Pro Bowls, and the birth of my son — all playing for one franchise. How many guys have a story like that?
"So this is a happy day for me, and I just wanted to let you all know how much I appreciate you embracing a Southern kid from Lewisburg, Tennessee.
"I appreciate everyone who helped me make this dream come true. But I especially want to thank my mom. None of this happens without her. Now that I got my own 40-pound two-year-old running around the house like a little wrecking ball, I don’t know how you held it down for us all by yourself.
"I just want to say thank you for helping me live my dream.
"To you, to my beautiful wife, Morgan, to all my coaches, my team-mates, my mentors, my teachers, my friends, my entire family, and to all the fans at Bama and New England....
"Thank you. Just, thank you. I wouldn’t rewrite a single chapter of this story."
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