The Los Angeles Chargers and the Buffalo Bills have agreed to a trade to send quarterback Cardale Jones across the country to LA. Meanwhile, the Dallas Cowboys have added a veteran running back to an already loaded group, and a Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman has surprisingly retired.
Cardale Jones traded to the Chargers
The Los Angeles Chargers have acquired Cardale Jones from the Buffalo Bills in return for a conditional seventh-round draft pick. Jones was drafted in the fourth round last year but that was under head coach Rex Ryan. The new coaching staff under Sean McDermott drafted their own developmental quarterback in this year's draft, taking Nathan Peterman in the fifth round.
The move gives the Chargers a young, development quarterback behind 35-year-old Philip Rivers. New Chargers coach Anthony Lynn also knows Jones, as he was the Bills offensive coordinator and interim head coach last season. Jones only played in one game his rookie year, going 6-11 for 96 yards.
Cowboys sign Ronnie Hillman
The Dallas Cowboys have signed veteran running back Ronnie Hillman, which seems like an odd move. The team already has a loaded backfield in Ezekiel Elliott, Alfred Morris, Darren McFadden, and undrafted rookie Jahad Thomas.
However, Thomas has a hamstring injury and there is still uncertainty about whether Elliott will get suspended or not by the NFL. Hillman spent his first four seasons in the NFL with the Denver Broncos before spending last year with the Minnesota Vikings and Chargers.
For his career, he has 494 carries for 1,976 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns.
John Urschel retires
Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman John Urschel has surprisingly announced his retirement from the NFL after only three seasons. The 26-year-old's announcement came only two days after a recent study confirmed signs of CTE in almost 99% of deceased NFL players' brains. Urschel was drafted by the team in the fifth round of the 2014 draft out of Penn State.
In his time in the league, he has played in 40 games and started in 13 of them. He has played at left guard, right guard, center, and right tackle.
Urschel has spent the offseason working towards his doctorate at MIT in machine learning, numerical linear algebra, and spectral graph theory. While at Penn State he earned his Master's degree in mathematics. He has also already published six peer-reviewed mathematics papers.
