NFL teams shove big-name players out the door

By DAVE BIRKETT

Tribune News Service

Reggie Bush spent the last few months nursing an ankle injury that limited his role in the Detroit Lions’ underachieving offense.

He’ll spend the next few weeks looking for a new team.

The Lions released Bush on Wednesday in a cost-cutting move that will free up cap room to help the team with its chief off-season pursuit, re-signing All-Pro defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh.

Bush, who turns 30 next month, played just 11 games last year and finished with 297 yards rushing, the second lowest total of his career, as he took a backseat to Joique Bell in the running back rotation.

The Lions ranked 28th in the league in rushing last year (88.9 ypg) and coach Jim Caldwell singled out the running game last month as one area the team needs to improve for 2015.

“For the most part I just think that we just have to be a little bit better just in terms of getting our running game off to a start better earlier in the year,” Caldwell said. “But I think we’ve got to do some of the same things we did before. I think if we don’t turn the ball over, give ourselves the opportunity, I think it’s going to be fine. We’ve got a great nucleus of guys coming back. But I think you’re going to see improvement in all of those areas.”

The Lions entered Wednesday with about $126 million in top-51 salary cap commitments, giving them a projected $17 million of cap space to spend on Suh, their draft class and others this offseason.

By cutting Bush, who was due a $3.25 million base salary this year and had a $250,000 workout bonus in his contract, they created another $1.7 million in cap room.

Bush, one of the Lions’ big three free-agent additions in 2013 along with Glover Quin and Jason Jones, had an immediate impact in his first season with the team.

He became the first Lions’ 1,000-yard back since Kevin Jones in 2004 and finished for 1,006 yards rushing, the second highest total of his career.

But after a slow start last year, Bush sprained his ankle in a Week 5 loss to the Buffalo Bills and was in and out of the lineup the rest of the season. He topped 50 yards rushing just twice in a game last year, and had just three touchdowns, including an 18-yard run in a playoff loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

The Lions’ decision to cut Bush comes weeks after The Advocate reported that a co-defendant in the Darren Sharper rape case told a Louisiana district attorney’s office that he saw Bush putting the drug ecstasy in Champagne glasses at a Las Vegas nightclub.

Bush denied the claim on Twitter, his attorney, Shawn Holley, told the Free Press that Bush is not under investigation and there has “never been any complaint made by any person of this happening,” and it’s unclear what if anything that claim had to do with the team’s decision to release him.

Bell, who ran for a career-high 860 yards last year, returns as the Lions’ No. 1 running back, and Theo Riddick proved a capable weapon in the passing game with 34 catches out of the backfield last year.

The Lions likely will address the running back position in the draft, too, where there’s a strong group of versatile backs including potential early-round picks Todd Gurley, Melvin Gordon, Duke Johnson and Ameer Abdullah.

• Packer cut Hawk

GREEN BAY, Wis. — After nine seasons with the Green Bay Packers, linebacker A.J. Hawk has been let go.

The Packers announced Wednesday afternoon that they had released Hawk, their fifth pick in the 2006 draft and a staple of their defense under coach Mike McCarthy.

General manager Ted Thompson called Hawk a “consummate Packer” and a great person in announcing that the team had decided to part ways with the veteran.

“A.J. is a consummate Packer and we are grateful for all that he has given and how he represented the organization over the past nine seasons,” Thompson said. “He was a durable and consistent contributor to our success, but more importantly, he is a great person and teammate.

“The Packers are grateful for all that he has done on the field and in the community. We wish A.J., his wife Laura, and the rest of their family all the best.”

Hawk is the third player the Packers have released since their loss to Seattle in the NFC Championship game Jan. 18.

Tight end Brandon Bostick, LB Brad Jones and Hawk have all been let go.

The release of Jones and Hawk relieves the Packers of $7.25 million of cap space. Jones had $3.75 million of salary wiped off the books and Hawk had $3.5 million wiped off. Both were in the final years of their contracts.

The salary cap is expected to be around $143 million. If that is the case, the Packers are nearly $33 million under the cap after the release of the three players.

In nine seasons, Hawk played all but two of a possible 144 regular-season games, starting 136 of them. The Ohio State product ranks No. 1 in franchise history (since 1975) with 1,118 tackles, He recorded 100-plus tackles in seven of his nine seasons, including in four consecutive seasons (2006-08, 2010-13).

The Packers made the playoffs seven times in Hawk’s nine years in Green Bay, winning the division five times. Hawk started 11 of the 13 postseason contests he played in, recording 70 tackles

In 2014, he was the starter at inside linebacker in the base defense all season, but at mid-season, with his performance slipping, he was removed from the nickel and dime packages and replaced inside by outside linebacker Clay Matthews.

Hawk was a keystone in coordinator Dom Capers’ defense, calling the plays and making sure players were in their right positions. But he was never able to live up to the hype of being picked No. 5 overall and his play began to deteriorate in recent years.

It was revealed last week that Hawk played most of the season with a bad ankle and that he needed surgery to remove bone spurs. But at 31 years old, Hawk was not going to be a part of the Packers’ plans next year with Matthews slated to play more at inside linebacker and Sam Barrington emerging as a starter.

It’s likely the Packers will draft an inside linebacker or sign a free agent to help fill the position.

• Ravens release wide receiver-returner Jacoby Jones

Jacoby Jones, a Super Bowl XLVII hero who dropped down the wide receiver depth chart last season, was released Wednesday by the Ravens, the team announced.

The termination of Jones’ contract will be the first of several moves that the Ravens will make over the next couple of weeks as the team looks to get its salary cap situation in order ahead of the March 10 start of free agency.

“We thank Jacoby for what he did for us,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said in a statement released by the team. “He was invaluable to our success. Opponents, especially on special teams, schemed to stop him. What a compliment to him.

“Jacoby is one of my most favorite players ever to coach, an absolute joy to be around. He’s a good person with a good heart.”

But Jones’ release was more of a football decision than a financial one. Unless he’s designated as a post-June 1 release, the Ravens will save only $750,000 against the salary cap by letting Jones go. The 30-year-old signed a four-year, $12 million deal last March and was due a $2.5 million base salary in 2016.

“We think he can still play in the NFL, and releasing him now allows him a better opportunity to land with another team,” Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said.

Jones is coming off a disappointing season in which he disappeared from the offensive game plan amid a series of ill-timed drops. Jones had just nine catches, which ranked 10th on the team, for 131 yards.

He did finish second in the NFL with a 30.6-yard average on kickoff returns, which included a 108-yard touchdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He also averaged 9.2 yards per punt return, though his decision-making and ball security were issues at different parts of the season. He fumbled four times, losing two of them.

In three regular seasons with the Ravens, Jones caught 76 balls for 992 yards and three touchdowns. But he emerged as one of the team’s top playmakers and was crucial during the team’s march to the Super Bowl.

“We don’t win Super Bowl XLVII without Jacoby,” Newsome said. “You immediately think of the touchdown against Denver in the divisional round and then the big plays in that Super Bowl — the long touchdown from Joe [Flacco] and the kickoff to open the second half. He also had a big punt return in that game. Jacoby was an outstanding Raven, good teammate on and off the field.”

His late game-tying touchdown catch in the team’s AFC divisional playoff victory over the Denver Broncos — known in Baltimore as the “Mile High Miracle” — is regarded as one of the most important plays in franchise history.

Jones also had two touchdowns in the 34-31 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII, including a second-half-opening 108-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

He was the first Ravens player to post multiple kickoff return touchdowns in a single season (2012). He has nine total return touchdowns in the regular season in his career. In three seasons with the Ravens, he scored 11 total touchdowns, three coming in the postseason and six coming on returns.

“You think of how many games where his returns or long catches were the difference in winning — at Pittsburgh, Dallas, the 2012 playoff run to the championships and that great Minnesota game in the snow and ice at M&T Bank Stadium come to mind immediately,” Harbaugh said.