Alshon Jeffery signed his $14.6 million franchise tag tender with the Chicago Bears on March 8th.

Jeffery has stayed away from the Bears during the voluntary portion of the offseason program and has been working out in Miami.

Both sides plan for Jeffery to be at the mandatory minicamp in mid-June and at training camp in late July. 

The Bears almost certainly will not agree upon a long-term deal with Jeffery before the July 15th deadline.

Dion Jordan will apply for reinstatement to the NFL this Wednesday.

Jordan said he "never" had a drug problem and hasn't used any illegal substances for over two years.

Jordan, third overall pick in the 2013 draft by the Miami Dolphins, was suspended for the entire 2015 season after one of his samples was diluted.

He has been suspended three times during his brief NFL career.

Peyton Manning talked about how he nearly signed with the Tennessee Titans in 2012.

Manning signed with the Denver Broncos and also considered the Titans and San Francisco 49ers.

"I was pretty close," Manning said.

"I was hoping we would win out," the late Titans' owner Bud Adams said at the time. "I thought we'd be ahead of Denver. I thought he'd want to stay in Tennessee."

The New York Jets made a three-year offer to Ryan Fitzpatrick in March with $12 million guaranteed in the first year.

The offer has remained on the table ever since.

Fitzpatrick and the Jets have been locked in a contract stalemate. 

Fitzpatrick is a free agent after emerging with the Jets in 2015 and throwing 31 touchdown passes.

Keenan Reynolds may defer his military service to pursue his NFL career with the Baltimore Ravens. Reynolds was a sixth round pick by the Ravens.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter made the announcement in his graduation speech to the Naval Academy.

"It is a blessing to hear the news from Defense Secretary Carter today," Reynolds said in a statement. "I am truly excited to proudly serve my country while having the ability fulfill my dream of playing for the best organization in the NFL.

"I would like to thank the Navy for allowing me to represent them while taking advantage of this unique opportunity."

Ameer Abdullah underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder in January.

The Detroit Lions expect him back by the start of training camp.

Jim Caldwell confirmed Abdullah had surgery but declined to give specifics, including whether Abdullah was playing with the injury the entire season.

He also said "we'll see" when he expects Abdullah to return.

"He's recovering nicely," Caldwell said.

Abdullah was a second round pick in 2015 and led the Lions in rushing yards with 597.

Ray Rice was at the Baltimore Ravens' practice on Wednesday as he addressed the team's rookies.

"[Rice] delivered an important message that included his story, both the good and the bad," the Ravens said in a statement. "He clearly had the attention of our rookies."

It is believed to be the first time Rice has been at the Ravens facility since an acrimonious split between him and the team.

Rice was cut in September 2014 after a video of him hitting his then-fiancée, Janay, drew widespread attention. 

Rice received $1.588 million from the Ravens as part of a settlement in March of 2015.

The New England Patriots said in court papers filed Wednesday in Manhattan that it has a "strong interest" in sparing Tom Brady from starting the season with a four-game suspension.

The papers say the Patriots "strongly believe" nobody tampered with footballs at the 2015 AFC Championship Game. New England defeated the Indianapolis Colts 45-7 in that game and went on to win the Super Bowl.

A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-to-1 last month to reinstate Brady's four-game suspension. A lower-court judge had ruled last September that the NFL erred in its handling of the probe regarding the deflated footballs and he rejected the suspension a week before the season began.

The following was in a footnote from the Patriots:

“From the outset of this matter the League’s conduct reflects less a search for the truth than pursuit of a predetermined result and defense of a report which, despite no direct evidence of tampering or Mr. Brady’s involvement, was relied on to impose penalties with no precedent or correlation to the alleged offense. The League’s commitment to the conclusions of the Wells Report on which the penalties were based was so absolute that in Mr. Brady’s appeal one of the chief Paul Weiss investigators and an author of the Report, Mr. [Lorin] Reisner, served as the League’s counsel and examined witnesses. In addition, at the very outset of the investigation the League leaked materially incorrect PSI information and refused to correct it for months, allowing public misperceptions to fester. At the AFC Championship Game itself, and despite having no knowledge of the impact of weather on PSI (as admitted under oath), League personnel were already accusing the Patriots of cheating. The League made a ‘preliminary finding’ of wrongdoing by Patriots’ employees less than 24 hours after the Game. Penalties were imposed only three business days after receipt of the 139 page Wells Report and the 82 page Exponent Report and obviously without any critical assessment of either. The Commissioner publicly praised the Wells Report, imposed penalties based on it, and then insisted on hearing and deciding Mr. Brady’s appeal himself despite the authority to appoint an independent person to do so. When evidence at that hearing did not provide support for enhanced findings against Mr. Brady (to go beyond ‘general awareness’ of violations by others), the Commissioner made new findings and changed the basis on which Mr. Brady was being penalized.”

Eddie Lacy has appeared to lose weight this offseason as he made his first public practice with the Green Bay Packers during the new league year.

"I think I look good," said Lacy.

Lacy's listed weight is 234 pounds but he appeared to play in the 260 range in 2015.

Mike McCarthy called the power back out in January, making it clear that Lacy "cannot play at the weight he played at" in 2015.

NFL Players Association president and Bengals offensive tackle Eric Winston criticized the NFL over allegations in a recent congressional report on the way the NFL improperly handled its recent concussion study was "a symptom" and "microcosm" of the way the league treated its players.

The 91-page report highlighted ways the NFL pressured the National Institutes of Health to take the $16 million project from a prominent Boston University researcher, and instead redirect the money to members of the league's committee on brain injuries. The study was to have been funded by a $30 million "unrestricted gift" the NFL gave the NIH in 2012.

According to Winston, such actions by the NFL are par for the course.

"The way they treated NIH is a symptom and is just a microcosm of really the way they treat players throughout the league, right?" Winston said Tuesday. "Every player needs to know because it's every player that's going to be affected by a study like this. It's every player that's going to be affected by personal conduct. It's every player that's affected by these things. So it's not just about my vendetta or it's not just about me. ... It's about educating the players and letting them know, 'Listen, this affects you.'"