NFL notebook: QB Luck expected ready for training camp

The Colts' Twitter account posted video of Luck dropping back and throwing a
pass to the flats, along with the caption, "Another step closer."

Luck was throwing a Wilson TDS 1205, a standard high school football that is
lighter than NFL footballs.

--Bills quarterback Josh Allen, a rookie first-round pick, has worked his way
into the first-team offense on a timeshare basis, Buffalo coach Sean McDermott
said.

"He's worked hard," McDermott said. "This has been part of the plan from the
start. But give Josh credit, he's earned it."

The Bills traded incumbent starter Tyrod Taylor to the Cleveland Browns and
signed Cincinnati Bengals backup AJ McCarron as a free agent before trading up
to take Allen with the seventh overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. McCarron
will get work with the starters, and McDemott did not specify how snaps would
be divided.

--Though Lamar Jackson's arrival put Joe Flacco's long-term future with the
Baltimore Ravens in doubt, the team is less focused right now on a quarterback
competition than it is on maximizing use of both of its signal-callers
together.

Jackson, the 32nd overall pick in April's draft, has been lining up at
different spots with the first-team offense alongside Flacco, the starting
quarterback.

"Gosh, I sure like him out there helping us," head coach John Harbaugh told
reporters of Jackson on Tuesday. "If you put two quarterbacks on the field at
once, what options does it create for our offense? That's what we're trying to
figure out."

--New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. will not participate in team
drills during minicamp.

Beckham's attendance was uncertain until last week, when coach Pat Shurmur
said the Giants expected the mercurial wideout to be at the first mandatory
workout of the summer.

Seeking a contract extension as he enters the fifth-year option of his rookie
deal, Beckham showed for the start of organized team activities -- which are
voluntary -- in May but had been absent for the past two weeks.

--Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy's annual tradition of giving
established veterans a hall pass for mandatory minicamp continued for a third
offseason.

Players with six or more years of experience in the NFL -- including
quarterback Aaron Rodgers -- were dismissed the past two years. McCarthy said
Tuesday the criteria for dismissal was different this time but didn't offer
details. Rodgers, however, was one of the 16 players dismissed from the
workouts that run Tuesday through Thursday.

Linebacker Clay Matthews (knee, nose) and left tackle David Bakhtiari also did
not attend.

--Entering the final year of his rookie deal and looking to score a long-term
extension that makes him the highest-paid player at his position, Tennessee
Titans left tackle Taylor Lewan is skipping the team's minicamp this week.

Titans GM Jon Robinson said in a statement, "We have had several constructive
conversations over the last 5-6 weeks about his contract status. He is
currently under contract and we are working to keep Taylor as part of this
organization for a long time."

The minicamp is mandatory, and Lewan is subject to fines if he misses the
workouts.

--Holding out of camp is nothing new for Aaron Donald and the Los Angeles
Rams. So when the team took the field for the first practice of minicamp on
Tuesday, there was little surprise they did so without the reigning NFL
Defensive Player of the Year.

Like most teams throughout the league, the Rams are holding mandatory
three-day minicamp this week. And like many other high-profile players
entering the final year of their contract, Donald is holding out in hopes of
getting a top-level extension rather than play out his existing contract.

For Donald, a first-team All-Pro three seasons running, that could mean the
biggest contract ever given to a defensive player. That distinction currently
belongs to Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller (six years, $114 million
signed in 2016).

--Add Arizona Cardinals running back David Johnson to the list of NFL holdouts
entering the final year of their rookie contract.

First-year head coach Steve Wilks declined to comment on the status of talks
as Arizona opened a three-day minicamp.

It is expected Johnson and the club will reach an agreement on a new contract
for the 2015 third-round pick. After earning first-team All-Pro honors in
2016, Johnson suffered a season-ending wrist fracture in Week 1 last season.

--After skipping all of the New Orleans Saints' voluntary workouts this
offseason, running back Mark Ingram was on the practice field for the first
day of minicamp.

Suspended for the first four games of the regular season for violating the
NFL's performance-enhancing substances policy, the 28-year-old Ingram is
entering the final year of his contract and looking for a new deal.

Potentially looking to fill the gap during Ingram's upcoming ban, the Saints
will meet with free agent running backs Jamaal Charles and Terrance West on
Wednesday, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

--Three weeks after acquiring him from the New York Jets, the Oakland Raiders
waived quarterback Christian Hackenberg.

Still with two years left on his rookie contract, Hackenberg will be subject
to waivers.

The Raiders agreed on May 22 to send a conditional 2019 seventh-round pick to
the Jets for Hackenberg. The 23-year-old took minimal reps during organized
team activities as the Raiders' fourth-stringer behind Derek Carr, Connor Cook
and EJ Manuel.

--The contract of Denver Broncos defensive tackle Clinton McDonald was
restructured, with the base salary dropped from $3 million to $1 million.

According to ESPN, McDonald's contract -- a two-year, $7 million deal he
signed in March as a free agent -- required him to pass a June 11 physical in
order to guarantee all $3 million of his base salary.

The 31-year-old had shoulder surgery earlier this offseason, and Tuesday's
news likely means he remains unable to pass a physical. McDonald can still
make up the $2 million trim to his base salary through weekly roster bonuses
pertaining to his status on the 53-man roster and whether or not he is active
on game days, per ESPN.

--A jury ordered the Los Angeles Rams to pay former NFL running back Reggie
Bush $12.45 million on Tuesday in a lawsuit stemming from an injury Bush
sustained at the Rams' stadium in St. Louis in 2015, according to the St.
Louis Post-Dispatch.

Per the Post-Dispatch, the jury awarded Bush $4.95 million in compensatory
damages and $7.5 million in punitive damages after finding the then-St. Louis
Rams 100 percent liable.

"I'm very happy with the verdict," Bush told the Post-Dispatch. "The people
spoke and decided very fairly."

--For the second consecutive year, Cleveland Browns cornerback Howard Wilson
will miss the season with a knee injury after sustaining a torn left patellar
tendon, the team announced.

A fourth-round pick out of Houston in 2017, Wilson fractured his kneecap on
the first day of rookie camp last May, requiring surgery that kept him out of
his entire rookie campaign. It is unclear if the injuries are related.

--Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon wasn't shy when asked about the potential
of a receivers group that also includes newly acquired Jarvis Landry.

"I think we're the best receiving corps in the league, in my opinion,
already," Gordon told reporters after practice at Berea, Ohio. "Just based off
of talent alone. You put in the playbook and some guys that are hungry enough
to go do it, hopefully we go show and prove that."

--Field Level Media