Yesterday, the San Francisco 49ers announced that they were releasing the longest tenured defensive player on the team in veteran linebacker Ahmad Brooks. Meanwhile, the Houston Texans had one of their wide receivers get suspended while the Cincinnati Bengals received good new regarding the elbow injury safety Shawn Williams suffered.
49ers release Ahmad Brooks
The San Francisco 49ers announced yesterday that Ahmad Brooks has been released, only weeks before the veteran would have kicked off his 11th season in the NFL.
This news was first broken by “Sacramento Bee” reporter Matt Burrows.
Brooks, who is now 33-years-old, has been spending the offseason competing with the team's 2015 third-round pick, 23-year-old Eli Harold. Harold is ten years younger than Brooks, which is an advantage for rebuilding the 49ers team. However, he also comes at a much cheaper price tag. Brooks was slated to make $6.1 million this year, while Harold is only going to make $823,000.
Besides this, the 49ers already have a lot with passes rushers as they added veteran Elvis Dumervil and this year's first-round in Solomon Thomas in the offseason.
The team also already had 2015 first-round pick, Arik Armstead, 2014 fifth-round pick Aaron Lynch and they like how Tank Carradine has looked in their newly implemented 4-3 defense.
Texans Jalen Strong gets suspended
Houston Texans wide receiver Jalen Strong has been suspended for the first game of the season for violating the league's substance abuse policy. The suspension comes from when Strong was arrested in February 2016 for possession of marijuana. He will be eligible to return to the team's roster on September 11, although he can continue to practice until training camp ends. Strong posted an apology on his Twitter account after the news broke.
The Texans were already currently lacking at the receiver position before Strong's suspension.
Will Fuller broke his collarbone in practice three weeks ago and DeAndre Hopkins and Braxton Miller have been recently sidelined with injuries.
Williams avoids needing surgery in elbow
Yesterday, Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis had good news regarding starting safety Shawn Williams. Lewis said that Williams had recovered well enough from his elbow injury, which he suffered in last Saturday's preseason game, that he will not need surgery. Lewis even added that “he's way ahead of where the doctors thought he would be.”