NFL notebook: Vikings to induct Green into Ring of Honor

The Minnesota Vikings will induct the late Dennis Green in the club's Ring of Honor this season, the team announced Monday. Green, who coached the Vikings from 1992 to 2002 and led the club to the NFC Championship Games in 1998 and 2000, died of a heart attack in July 2016. He was 67. In acknowledgement of his contributions, Green will be inducted into the Ring of Honor during a halftime ceremony of a game against the Buffalo Bills on Sept. 23 at U.S. Bank Stadium. Green led the Vikings to four NFC Central titles and eight postseason appearances. He posted a 101-70 overall record with the club, giving him the second-most wins in franchise history behind only Bud Grant (168). --The Carolina Panthers signed first-round draft choice wide receiver D.J. Moore, the club announced. Carolina has now signed all eight of its 2018 draft choices. Under the current collective bargaining agreement, Moore's four-year deal should be worth about $11.2 million, with a $6.2 million signing bonus, the Charlotte Observer reported. Moore, who was selected by Carolina with the 24th overall pick, played collegiately at Maryland. He was named Big Ten Receiver of the Year in 2017 after setting a school season record for receptions with 80. --Cincinnati Bengals first-round pick Billy Price announced that he has been cleared for football activities. Price, who was the 21st overall selection of the 2018 NFL Draft, partially tore his pectoral muscle while doing the bench press at the NFL Scouting Combine in March. Price has been limited in offseason practices because of the injury. He is expected to start at center this season on a revamped offensive line for the Bengals, who open training camp on July 26. --The Miami Dolphins have agreed to terms with second-round draft pick Mike Gesicki, the team announced. The Dolphins now have all eight of their draft picks under contract. Gesicki, who was the 42nd overall selection, was a three-year starter at tight end for Penn State, where he caught 129 passes for 1,481 yards and 15 touchdowns. He finished his collegiate career with at least one reception in 27 consecutive games. --Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy isn't interested in taxing one particular running back over another this season. McCarthy said the demands of the position will require Jamaal Williams, Aaron Jones and Ty Montgomery to share the load in the backfield. "The fact of the matter is we're going to go running back by committee," McCarthy told ESPN. "But if one of them would emerge as that full-time guy, then you have to have that ability to ... adjust to that." --Carolina Panthers quarterbacks coach Scott Turner wants Cam Newton to make quicker decisions with the football this season. In that light, Turner told Sports Illustrated that he's fine with the 6-foot-5, 245-pound Newton dumping the ball off as opposed to holding out for the big play. "With him, on every play, we want to make sure he has a plan and he's following that plan," Turner said. "And to know checking down is OK. A lot of Cam's issues have come because he's so talented that he thinks he can make every play work. And sometimes, it's just not there, so you check down and go to the next play. By holding the ball, sometimes he takes hits or falls into negative plays." --Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said he isn't focused on breaking the bank with his next contract. "I care about record-breaking Super Bowl wins and things like that -- that's more important to me," he told ESPN during his football pro camp Sunday in Pittsburgh. Roethlisberger has two years remaining on his contract as he enters his 15th season with the Steelers. The 36-year-old signed a five-year deal in 2015 that averages approximately $20 million per season. --Further proof that the NFL plans to continue playing games in England is the fact that the league has paid for the installation of an NFL-only field at the site of the new soccer stadium for Tottenham Hotspur. The Spurs are an English soccer club in Tottenham, London, that competes in the Premier League. The stadium is still being constructed, but the distinguishing characteristic of the venue is that it will be able to accommodate two types of playing surfaces. The stadium will be able to switch from the natural grass field used for soccer to a FieldTurf artificial surface that will be used for football. --Baltimore Ravens quarterback Robert Griffin III has taken fellow former Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson under his wing. Griffin told Sports Illustrated that he sees a bit of himself in the 21-year-old Jackson, who was selected with the 32nd overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft. In addition, the 28-year-old Griffin wants to make sure Jackson is ready when it's time to leave the nest. "I'm trying to help nurture him as much as I possibly can," Griffin said, "so that when he flies away, he is ready to fly away. Because when you watch it fly away, at that point it's up to that bird." --Atlanta wide receiver Julio Jones did not attend last week's mandatory minicamp while he seeks a contract adjustment, and Falcons officials apparently are not pleased that he has been spending time working out with former wide receiver Terrell Owens. Owens was recently elected to the Hall of Fame, but he had a contract dispute with the Philadelphia Eagles that ended up when him being sent home and eventually traded away. "The fact that he's running around with Terrell Owens has the front office uneasy," D. Orlando Ledbetter, a Falcons beat writer for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, said on ESPN Radio in Charlotte. Ledbetter added that the relationship between Jones and the team is "in a bad place right now." Nonetheless, Ledbetter said he expects Jones to be present when training camp starts. --Pro Football Hall of Famer Rod Woodson said Owens is missing an opportunity to publicly thank those who helped him reach such lofty heights with his NFL career. Owens has come under fire after publicly declining his invitation to be part of the Class of 2018 in Canton, Ohio. The 44-year-old released a statement earlier this month that he planned to "celebrate what will be one of the most memorable days of my life, elsewhere." Woodson said on NFL Network that the most important part of his own Hall of Fame speech in 2009 was acknowledging the people who helped him on his path. The 53-year-old said Owens owes it to those people to show up in Canton on Aug. 4. --Jacksonville Jaguars tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins said he's going to pay significant dividends on the two-year contract he signed during free agency. In fact, he is expecting a big season in 2018 as both a receiver and a blocker. "There's no doubt in my mind I can be the best run-blocking, pass-catching tight end in the league," the 25-year-old Seferian-Jenkins said, via First Coast News. "I'm not worried about it. I've got a good opportunity to come in here and do what I can to help this team win as many games as possible and everyone else will decide how the blocking is, but I'm going to block as hard as I can for my teammates." The Jaguars released tight end Marcedes Lewis and brought in Seferian-Jenkins, who is coming off the best season of his four-year career. He hauled in a career-high 50 receptions for 357 yards and three touchdowns in 13 games for the New York Jets. --Golden Tate sees a great deal of potential in fellow Detroit Lions wide receiver Kenny Golladay. Golladay reeled in just 28 receptions for 477 yards and three touchdowns in 11 games during his rookie season in 2017. Tate, however, believes that's just the tip of the iceberg for the 6-foot-4, 218-pound Golladay. "I saw freakish catches, man," Tate said, via MLive.com. "Some real freakin' freakish catches. Kenny's still a young guy trying to figure it out, but he's moving at a great pace. If he can just keep the mentality he has coming in, he studies, and just tries to get better every day, I'm telling you, this guy can be dominant. He's a WR1 kind of guy." --Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end Will Gholston admits he was too heavy during a mediocre 2017 season, and he has done something about it. The Bucs signed Gholston to a five-year, $27.5 million extension in 2017, but he had no sacks and four tackles for loss while playing in 14 games, including 10 starts last season. "It was awful, crappy. If I said it once, I said it a million times: It was a (crappy) year. I openly admit to it," Gholston told the Tampa Bay Times. Buccaneers coach Dirk Koetter said the team thought Gholston was too heavy last year and Gholston agreed. Gholston is down to around 280 pounds, and he believes that will help him compete with the five defensive linemen the Bucs added this offseason.