NFL news and notes: Andrew Luck's injury somehow gets worse; Tom Brady trash talks former teammate

Written By Gabrielle McMillen
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Andrew Luck's calf injury in March didn't cause much alarm because the regular season was months away, but flash forward to August and Luck is at risk of missing the Colts' season opener.

The quarterback is suffering from an ankle issue, which has shelved him for the preseason and has held him out of full practices. Will he be ready when Sept. 8 rolls around?

Meanwhile, Kenny Stills and Dolphins owner Stephen Ross aren't seeing eye-to-eye with Ross' support of President Donald Trump and Cowboys Jerry Jones used a rather gross analogy to describe how the contract situation with some of Dallas' star players are going.

Those stories and more in Wednesday's edition of NFL News and Notes.

Three things that matter

Colts GM says Andrew Luck now has ankle issue

Chris Ballard said he wasn't ready to declare that quarterback Andrew Luck is ready for the regular-season opener after he revealed Luck now has an ankle issue. The Colts general manager said the calf injury Luck has been dealing is separate from the ankle problem, which he attributed to years of wear and tear.

"The issue right now is the side-to-side stuff," Ballard said, via ESPN. "Kind of rolling of the ankle. Anything back-and-forth, he's good. Standing there throwing, he's good. Moving in the pocket, those are the kind of things we have to get him better at."

Ballard said Luck doesn't have to be 100 percent to play, but there is a chance that Luck will miss the opener against the Chargers. Jacoby Brissett has been taking first-team reps in practice and has experience starting for the Colts — he played the majority of the 2017 season when Luck was out with a shoulder injury.

'Generational talent' makes Kyler Murray worth Josh Rosen trade, Cardinals GM says

Arizona general manager Steve Keim received a lot of criticism for his decision to draft quarterback Kyler Murray No. 1 overall in this year's draft just one year after the team drafted Josh Rosen No. 10 overall.

However, Keim told The Ringer that Murray is a "generational talent" and that having him on the team is worth the struggles the Cardinals have undergone in the past couple of seasons.

“You have to make the tough decisions and avoid the outside noise — ‘Why’d you give up on this guy? Why would you trade this guy?'” Keim said. “It’s unprecedented. I took [Rosen] in the top 10. I just felt that [Murray] was a generational talent that I just couldn’t pass up.”

Should the Cardinals have another disastrous season, Keim's time with the team could be in jeopardy.

Golden Tate says doctor gave banned meds to other players

The Giants receiver was handed a four-game suspension after he self-reported himself for taking clomiphene, which was in his fertility medication. Tate said his doctor reassured him that the medicine should not cause any issues when it came to illegal substances, but a positive test proved otherwise.

While Tate said he was accepting of his punishment, he added that he was considering suing the doctor for not properly doing his research and job.

"I think ultimately just because the doctor had said, 'No, it's not a banned substance and I have prescribed it to other NFL guys.' If the doctor said I'm not sure, I 100 percent would have looked into it," Tate told reporters Wednesday. "If the doctor had never said he had given it to any other NFL players, I 1,000 percent would have looked into it. I have gone through the TUE process for a couple medicines and I completely understand it."

If Tate's claims are true and other players have unwillingly ingested banned substance via the fertility drug, the league could have a mess on its hands.

Two things that don't matter

Jerry Jones' weird analogy to describe the Cowboys' contract issues

The Cowboys owner used a strange and rather gruesome analogy to describe the team's contract situations with quarterback Dak Prescott, running back Ezekiel Elliott and receiver Amari Cooper.

"Picture you were a driver of a car and you had a wreck and your hand was almost severed off, but you didn't understand your anatomy," Jones said, via The Dallas Morning News. "You look down, you're spurting blood, you open the door, and run to the woods, and either die bleeding to death or shock. The educated man looks down, knows his anatomy, squeezes and knows his best chance is to wait for help. That's because he's been there a lot and done that. So I'm squeezing and waiting for help."

Essentially, Jones is minding the Cowboys' salary cap and doesn't want to have to release anyone due to massive contracts paid to other players, but the bottom line is all three of his offensive stars still don't have new deals. Neither the salary cap, nor Dallas' situation is new.

Kenny Stills says he'll 'agree to disagree' with Dolphins owner Stephen Ross

The Miami receiver talked to Ross on the phone after he publicly called out Ross for holding a fundraiser for President Donald Trump's re-election campaign. Stills, a known social activist, said Ross' support of Trump contradicts the mission statement of his nonprofit, the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE). 

Apparently, the conversation didn't leave the two seeing eye-to-eye, with Stills telling reporters (via The Palm Beach Post): "We agreed to disagree and that was it. There's not much to argue about. He has his feelings about it and he stands firm in that, and I respect that. But I disagree and I told him there's no hard feelings. There's no beef and let's win some games this year."

Stills said he still plans to kneel during the national anthem this season, but his willingness to play under an owner whom he has different political beliefs from reflects his loyalty to the team and shouldn't affect them in the long run.

One video you have to see

Tom Brady isn't taking any smack talk from Mike Vrabel — a former Patriots teammate. The Patriots and Titans had a joint practice Wednesday, which led to the Patriots quarterback getting a little saucy with the Titans head coach.

Wednesday tweet of the day

Just in case you forgot what a giant man running back Derrick Henry is, here is photographic evidence. Henry towers over former Alabama teammate Damien Harris, who isn't a tiny man, either.