NFL notebook: Bills G Incognito says he's 'done'

Buffalo Bills offensive guard Richie Incognito (64) cited health issues as his reason for walking away from the game.
Buffalo Bills offensive guard Richie Incognito (64) cited health issues as his reason for walking away from the game.
Buffalo Bills left guard Richie Incognito announced on Tuesday that he has played his last snap in the NFL. "I'm done. That's it. It's been a long career," the 34-year-old Incognito told the Buffalo News. "It's been a long career. My liver and kidneys are shutting down. Nothing I can't restore with some balance, but the stress is killing me. "I went to a doctor's appointment the other day and they said, 'Listen, the stress is killing you, what are you doing?' And I said, 'Listen, I'm just doing what I love and that's playing football.' So that's why I'm done." Earlier on Tuesday, Incognito tweeted at the NFL Players Association: "I'm done." Incognito agreed to terms with the Bills last month, but saw his base salary reduced last month from $6.325 million to 3.65 million. The decision cleared $1.675 million in cap room for the Bills. --Quarterback Colin Kaepernick was scheduled to be deposed in his collusion grievance against the NFL. Kaepernick, who filed a grievance against the NFL in October 2017 that accused the 32 owners of collusion, is the first witness to be deposed by the league, Yahoo Sports reported. A free agent since he opted out of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers in March 2017, Kaepernick remains unsigned. He filed his grievance after his agent reached out to all NFL teams to make sure they were aware of his interest in playing last season. Kaepernick has been a controversial figure since he first sat and then knelt during the national anthem before games while with the 49ers in the 2016 season as a protest against social injustice and racial inequality. At the heart of Kaepernick's grievance is his claim that owners colluded to keep him off the field because of the protests and not due to his ability. --New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady typically receives extensions when his contract has just two years remaining. Although Brady's current deal expires after the 2019 season, Patriots owner Robert Kraft downplayed the concerns about that contractual element during an interview with Jeff Howe of The Athletic. "He'll be 41 when the season starts," Kraft said. "Neither side has an issue with it. If it becomes an issue, we'll deal with it." Four of the five contract extensions Brady has signed came with two seasons remaining on his deal. The fifth was put on hold as he was coming off his ACL tear in 2009. Brady is slated to make $15 million this season with a $22 million salary-cap hit. The three-time NFL MVP is on record as saying he'd like to play until he's 45 years old. --Gisele Bundchen insisted that she will not sack Tom Brady's NFL career. The supermodel wife of the New England Patriots star quarterback told the Wall Street Journal recently that the 40-year-old Brady ultimately will make the decision when the time is right to end his playing career. "It's not my decision to make," Bundchen told the newspaper. "It's his decision, and he knows it. It wouldn't be fair any other way. He's so focused right now. He has a laser focus on just winning and being the best, and I said, 'You know what? This is what you're doing right now in your life, and you need to feel complete in it, because if I'm the one who comes and says something and then you make a decision based on something that I said ..." --USC quarterback Sam Darnold is expected to visit the New York Jets' facility in Florham Park (N.J.) in the coming days, multiple media outlets reported. Darnold has been making frequent stops to NFL teams, including visiting the Cleveland Browns last Wednesday and Denver Broncos two days later. The Browns own the first and fourth overall picks while the Broncos hold the fifth selection in the 2018 NFL Draft, which will be held on April 26-28 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Darnold is scheduled to meet with the New York Giants this week and work out with the Buffalo Bills on Friday. The Giants hold the second overall pick while the Bills have the 12th. Darnold is viewed as the top overall prospect in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com senior analyst Rob Rang in his most recent Big Board. Rang lists UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen as second, followed by Penn State running back Saquon Barkley, Notre Dame offensive guard Quenton Nelson and North Carolina State defensive end Bradley Chubb. --UCLA's Josh Rosen wasn't short on confidence when discussing his place among the top-tier quarterbacks heading into the 2018 NFL Draft. "I'm the best QB in the draft. A lot of guys are flashier, but I think I'm the most efficient, monotonously consistent QB in this draft," Rosen told Sam Alipour of ESPN The Magazine. "(Aaron) Rodgers has some flair, but if you watch Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, there's nothing that's explosive or Johnny Manziel-like. It's just quarterbacking." --The Arizona Cardinals are not concerned with getting new quarterback Sam Bradford on the field and up to speed. The oft-injured Bradford, who signed a one-year contract worth $20 million last month, appeared in only two games with the Minnesota Vikings in 2017. That's why new Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks is more focused on making sure the veteran quarterback is healthy rather than worrying about if he will be an active participant in the offseason program. "The biggest thing we're going to do with Sam is make sure that he's ready to play 16-plus games," Wilks told reporters. "I've seen what he can do over the years. I'm not concerned about trying to get him out there quick as possible to throw the ball." --Tight end Tim Wright signed a contract with the Kansas City Chiefs in a picture he posted of himself on Instagram. "It's Official!! I Am Now A Kansas City Chief!!" posted Wright, who hasn't played in an NFL game since 2015. The team has not made a formal announcement and Wright did not reveal the terms of his deal. He is expected to provide depth behind Travis Kelce and Demetrius Harris in Kansas City. Wright missed all of the 2016 season with a torn ACL and spent part of the 2017 preseason with the Detroit Lions before being released. The 27-year-old recorded a career-high 54 receptions for 571 yards during his rookie season in 2013 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Wright collected six touchdowns with New England the following season and has 89 catches for 907 yards with 13 scores during 41 career contests with the Buccaneers, Patriots and Detroit Lions. --Free-agent cornerback Dontae Johnson visited with the Minnesota Vikings, ESPN reported. Johnson spent the past four seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, starting all 16 games in 2017 and recording 76 tackles with one interception and seven passes defensed. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Johnson missed just one game in his four seasons with San Francisco but only started a combined six games prior to last season. Minnesota could use some help at the position. Veteran cornerback Terence Newman, 39, who spent the past three seasons with the Vikings, started seven of 16 games in 2017. --Rams defensive end Ethan Westbrooks was sentenced to one day in jail and three years probation last week after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor weapons charge, the Los Angeles Times reported. Westbrooks was given credit for time served during his sentencing on Friday. The 27-year-old Westbrooks was arrested in September on suspicion of carrying a loaded firearm and four other charges after a traffic stop near Bakersfield (Calif.). The other charges were suspicion of receiving stolen property, carrying a stolen loaded firearm, grand theft of a firearm and possession of a high-capacity magazine. Signed to a one-year, $1.75 million contract extension in September, Westbrooks recorded 23 tackles and four sacks while making nine starts in 16 games last season. --The Detroit Lions placed offensive tackle Emmett Cleary on the reserve-retired list, the team announced. Cleary appeared in seven games, making one start, in 2017 in his lone season with the Lions. In late December, Cleary pledged to donate his brain to the Concussion Legacy Foundation to aid with research into chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The 27-year-old Cleary appeared in a career-high 13 games with the Dallas Cowboys in 2016 and started one game. The former Boston College product, who was born in Japan, also was on the rosters of the Cincinnati Bengals in 2014 and New York Giants in 2015, but never saw the field. --CBS broadcaster Rick Neuheisel downplayed a report that he will be the next coach hired by the Alliance for American Football. Neuheisel, a head coach for 12 seasons in the college ranks, acknowledged he has been in talks with the fledgling league but told ESPNU SiriusXM Radio that a report by the Sporting News "jumped the gun." The initial report linked Neuheisel to the head coaching job with the Southern California entry in the eight-team league, which is scheduled to debut in February 2019. CBS will be the broadcast partner of the AAF, which on Saturday announced former Florida and South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier as the league's first coach with the franchise based in Orlando, Fla.

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