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NFL

Watson to throw at combine, talks Senior Bowl

Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson said Thursday that he plans to throw at the NFL scouting combine and that his decision to skip the Senior Bowl wasn’t about discouraging the Cleveland Browns from selecting him in the NFL draft.

Watson made his comments Thursday in an interview with NFL Network.

Top quarterbacks often choose to forgo throwing at the scouting combine, instead saving that for their Pro Day showcases.

“I can just go out there and compete and just be the quarterback that I am,” Watson said in the interview. “I don’t want to get too focused on what I have to show or what I need to do because I think I’d lose track of doing the little things. Doing the little things right, completing passes, doing whatever the coaching staffs want me to do at the combine and just go out there and show what I’ve got.”

Although he was a junior when he left Clemson, Watson was eligible to play in the Senior Bowl because he had graduated. Watson explained Thursday that he decided to skip the Senior Bowl because he was training in California and not because the Browns’ staff was coaching the South team he would have played for, which he said was “wrong” information.

“That’s false information. I talked to [Browns coach] Hue Jackson. We had a great conversation right after the national championship game and I told him, ‘Hey, this is what I’m thinking about,’ and he understood everything,” Watson said in the interview. “I talked with my family, my agent, my trainer, all the coaches at Clemson, and it was just best for me to go ahead and get started in the draft process.”

While Watson wasn’t at his Senior Bowl, he still was a topic of discussion after his coach made headlines in Mobile, Alabama, by saying passing on the quarterback in the draft would be akin to passing on Michael Jordan.

“I’m just telling you, if they pass on Deshaun Watson, they’re passing on Michael Jordan,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said during the first day of Senior Bowl practices. “I’m just telling you. I don’t know what the heck I’m talking about; I’m just an old funky college coach. But Deshaun Watson is the best, by a long shot.”

Watson told NFL Network that Swinney called him after he made his comment and said, “‘you see my comment? … he said, well I’m just applying the pressure to Cleveland right now.”

Watson, who led Swinney’s Tigers to the national championship with a 35-31 win over Alabama, is one of the most highly debated draft prospects early in this year’s evaluations.

The 6-foot-2, 210-pound quarterback threw for 4,593 yards, 41 touchdowns and 17 interceptions in 15 games this past season.

ESPN’s Mike Triplett contributed to this report.

NFL

Quinn on Mack injury: 'Concerned, not panicked'

HOUSTON — Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn for the first time expressed concern about center Alex Mack, who continues to recover from a left fibula injury as the team approaches Sunday’s Super Bowl LI matchup with the New England Patriots.

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Mack, who didn’t practice all of last week and was limited Monday and Wednesday, was limited again Thursday at Rice University. Quinn commented on Mack’s status to pool reporter Peter King, who noted how Mack struggled at times throughout practice.

“I just know his toughness and strength is so great,” Quinn said. “The good thing is, I know he’s feeling better than he did in the NFC Championship Game. But yeah, I’m concerned. I’m not panicked, but I’m concerned.”

Mack first suffered the injury in Atlanta’s win over Green Bay in the NFC Championship Game. He initially exited for just one play but then sat out the final series of the game.

If Mack suffers a setback before Sunday or simply can’t push through, Ben Garland would step in for him. Mack arguably was the best free-agent acquisition in the league last offseason, helping to solidify the offensive line in front of lead MVP candidate Matt Ryan. Mack not only assists in giving Ryan clean pockets, he also gets out in space and delivers vicious blocks to spring running backs Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman.

Quinn was asked about brushing up on the offensive game plan with Mack limited.

Falcons center Alex Mack didn’t practice all last week and has been limited this week because of a left fibula injury. Jason Getz/USA TODAY Sports

“This game, because of the multiple fronts by New England, requires a lot of prep work by the center,” Quinn said. “Identifying this look, this front, this player’s positioning, they [Mack and Garland] spend a lot of time in the film room together normally. … and I would say it’s been even more these two weeks because this opponent requires even more.”

In other injury news, wide receiver Julio Jones was limited again coming off a toe sprain, and veteran defensive end Dwight Freeney, 36, was held out with a calf injury. Both are expected to be ready for Sunday, and Quinn called Freeney’s absence just a maintenance day.

The Falcons wrap up the week of practice Friday afternoon and will have a walk-through Saturday.

NFL

Union head: NFL should pay cheerleaders fairly

HOUSTON — A day after a group of cheerleaders filed a potential class-action lawsuit in federal court against the NFL, alleging league executives and team owners conspired to suppress wages, players union executive director DeMaurice Smith excoriated the league for not doing more to pay the women fairly.

“I think the league should be better than that,” Smith said during the annual NFL Players Association news conference, “and I think it requires better leadership and I think it requires a better decision by a group of people that everyone in this business can be paid fairly, and we’ll jump into any fight where we think people aren’t.”

Smith said he hadn’t heard from the plaintiffs in the suit, but has paid attention to legal action taken three years ago against individual teams that alleged wage and sex discrimination. The suits were settled for a reported $2.6 million.

“Let’s just be blunt, they were being paid less than minimum wage, and so in a league that makes billions and billions of dollars it took a group of women to come together to seek and file a wage and sex discrimination action against the National Football League only to have that settled,” Smith said. “And now nearly a year later another case has popped up. So, one, we’re a union and we believe that people should be paid their fair wage and we have those fights with the National Football League.”

After Smith concluded his answer, Panthers center Ryan Wendell jumped into the discussion, saying that his wife, Meridith, had been a cheerleader before they were dating and that it was “ridiculous” the way the women were treated.

“I encourage them in their efforts,” Wendell said. “They deserve it, they’re part of the show.”

The suit, filed on Tuesday in California against the NFL, alleges the teams collude to keep wages for the women artificially low.

This suit differs from the four filed against individual teams because it claims the NFL itself is a joint employer of the cheerleaders. As such, the claim has been filed in federal court. In the past, the league has argued that the 26 teams employ the women.

A spokesman for the NFL said the league has no comment.

Since the suit was filed and two plaintiffs appeared on Good Morning America, attorney Drexel Bradshaw said the women have been inundated with personal online abuse from NFL fans.

“They love the team just as much as the fans,” Bradshaw said. “This suit isn’t filed against the fans, it’s filed against the billionaire owners of the league.”

One of the named plaintiffs, Caitlin Yates, is declining further interviews. Another is named as a Jane Doe to protect her identity.

The suit refers to the cheerleaders as female athletes, and claims that teams do not recruit the best performers among them — unlike the way the best players compete for roster spots. The jobs make minimum wage, the suit alleges, but sometimes cheerleaders are not paid for appearances and practices. The cheerleaders still make significantly less than an NFL mascot, the suit claims, in a multi-billion dollar industry.

The counter argument is that cheerleaders don’t perform for the money, but for exposure to other opportunities. And yet, cheering for a professional team is in many ways the acme of the profession.

“There are federal laws that prevent this type of abuse from happening,” said Dan Werley, a sports lawyer with no link to the case. “So employees with less leverage aren’t taken advantage of in this scheme.”

Wendell said his wife sustained a concussion in a game, and that cheerleaders risk a lot to be able to perform for teams they love. But low pay shouldn’t be part of the equation, he said.

“I think the NFL touches its fans in a lot of ways,” Wendell said. “NFL players can’t be everywhere, so you have this proxy in the cheerleaders.”

The continued low pay for the largest group of women to wear NFL uniforms sends a message contrary to one the league is trying to cultivate.

Last week, the NFL held a career forum for women who play tackle football and could be in the pipeline some day for jobs in scouting and officiating. On Friday, the league hosts its second annual women’s summit, which this year will feature speakers to inspire for teen girls.

The league has hired women at the VP level and given them authority. Last year at the first women’s summit, commissioner Roger Goodell announced a Rooney Rule for women to apply in all front office positions at the manager level and up.

NFL

Chiefs' Berry says he won't play under tag in '17

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Safety Eric Berry played the 2016 season for the Chiefs as their franchise player, but once apparently is enough.

Berry told NFL Network he wouldn’t play for the Chiefs under the franchise tag again in 2017.

“I’m definitely not going to play under the franchise tag this year,” Berry said. “I want to end my career in Kansas City. I want to play there. I love the city, I love the vibe. I love my teammates. I really look at them more than teammates. We’ve been through a lot, and they supported me a lot.

“But I don’t feel comfortable playing under the franchise tag this year.”

The Chiefs designated Berry as their franchise player last year after the sides couldn’t agree on a long-term contract. Berry skipped the offseason practices and the early portion of training camp but eventually signed the Chiefs’ mandatory one-year contract worth about $10.8 million.

Berry, 28, had perhaps his best NFL season. He returned an interception for a touchdown to spark a fourth-quarter rally to beat the Carolina Panthers in November and returned one for a touchdown and another for two points to lead to a win over the Atlanta Falcons in December.

Berry, speaking before an NFL Play 60 event in the Kansas City area last week, told ESPN he wanted to remain with Kansas City and that the Chiefs had been in contact with his agent only the day before.

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