New England Patriots DB and pending free agent Jason McCourty said Sunday, Feb. 24, that he intends to play in 2019 and added that he would prefer to re-sign with the Patriots. ‘First and foremost, if I could be back in New England and all of that works out, that would be awesome,’ McCourty said. ‘That way it wouldn’t be the third consecutive year I had to move my family. That would be an advantage. But at the same time you realize how much of this is a business and how much of this isn’t dictated by (the feeling), ‘Hey, I just want to play here with my brother and the guys I built a relationship with.’ There’s so much more that goes into it. For me, (the approach will be) letting it play out. When March rolls around we’ll see where everything’s at and then at the end of the day we’ll see where the opportunities are and then make a decision.’

New England Patriots PK and pending free agent Stephen Gostkowski appears likely to remain with the team, either via the franchise tag or a multiyear deal.

The Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars are reportedly very interested in Pittsburgh Steelers TE Jesse James, who is expected to become a free agent next month, according to DraftAnalyst.com’s Tony Pauline.

Oklahoma QB Kyler Murray reaffirmed his choice to play football over baseball Saturday, telling ESPN’s Jake Trotter that while telling the Oakland Athletics he was pursuing football ‘was tough,’ he said, they can hold out all the hope they want to; I’m going to play football.’

Houston Texans QB Deshaun Watson became the first quarterback in NFL history with 4,000-plus passing yards (4,165), 25-plus touchdown passes (26), 500-plus rushing yards (551) and five rushing touchdowns (five) in a single season in 2018.

Oklahoma OG Dru Samia said that although he played in a variation of the spread offense in college, he ran enough ‘power stuff’ to fit any scheme in the NFL.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers DT Beau Allen, DT Mitch Unrein, P Bryan Anger and C Evan Smith are candidates to be released this offseason, in the opinion of Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds. Those moves would add around $13 million to the salary cap.

Cleveland Browns QB Drew Stanton is an offseason trade candidate for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in the opinion of Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds. Reynolds posits the Buccaneers could trade their seventh-round draft pick for Stanton.

Jacksonville Jaguars OT Jermey Parnell and FS Tashaun Gipson could be released this offseason so the team could create some salary cap space. The team would save $6 million in cap space if Parnell is released and $7.45 million if Gipson is cut.

Minnesota Vikings SS Andrew Sendejo is a candidate to be released this offseason because the team would save $5.5 million in salary cap space if they release him before June 1.