NFL Player News

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was named the 2015 NFL MVP at the NFL Honors awards show, held Saturday at the Phoenix Symphony Hall in Phoenix, Ariz.

Rodgers played all 16 regular-season games in 2014 for just the second time in the last five seasons, completing 65.6 percent of his passes while racking up 4,381 passing yards, 38 passing touchdowns and five interceptions. He also added two more touchdowns on the ground while gaining 269 rushing yards on 43 carries.

Several other awards were handed out at the ceremony Saturday, as follows.

AP Offensive Player of the Year: DeMarco Murray, Cowboys

AP Defensive Player of the Year: J.J. Watt, Texans

AP Offensive Rookie of the Year: Odell Beckham, Giants

AP Defensive Rookie of the Year: Aaron Donald, Rams

AP Comeback Player of the Year: Rob Gronkowski, Patriots

AP Coach of the Year: Bruce Arians, Cardinals

AP Assistant Coach of the Year: Todd Bowles, Cardinals

Walter Payton Man of Year: Thomas Davis, Panthers

Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award: Larry Fitzgerald, Cardinals

Salute to Service Award: Jared Allen, Bears

NFL.com Fantasy Player of the Year: Le'Veon Bell, Steelers

FedEx Air Player of the Year: Aaron Rodgers, Packers

FedEx Ground Player of the Year: Le'Veon Bell, Steelers

Deacon Jones Award: Justin Houston, Chiefs

Greatness on the Road Award: Tony Romo, Cowboys

Bridgestone Performance Play of the Year: Odell Beckham one-handed catch

Don Shula High School Coach of the Year: Bruce Larson, Somerset (Wisconsin) High School

In addition, eight finalists were voted into the Hall of Fame: running back Jerome Bettis, wide receiver Tim Brown, defensive end/linebacker Charles Haley, linebacker Junior Seau, guard Will Shields, center Mick Tingelhoff and executives Bill Polian and Ron Wolf.

Jets quarterback Geno Smith said Saturday he is unsure of his status with the team and has not received a definitive answer from new coach Todd Bowles on whether he will be the starter in 2015, according to Rich Cimini of ESPN.

Smith, who threw for 2,525 yards with 13 touchdowns in 2014, also isn't sure if the Jets will try to draft a quarterback in the first round like Jamies Winston or Marcus Mariota, but he would welcome the challenge as more competition.

The Seahawks are preparing to re-sign quarterback Russell Wilson. With Wilson making under $1 million per year in his first three seasons, Seattle has been able to give other players contract extensions. Now, general manager John Schneider knows it will be tough on the team to get Wilson at the hefty price tag.

"It presents challenges, there is no question," Schneider said. "We haven’t sat down with his representatives. We are still going to be drafting young players and playing young players, so we might not be able to dip into free agency like you may want to here and there or compensate somebody else that you want to compensate that is already on your team, but just the fact that we’re going to continue to keep drafted players and playing young players should help us compensate for whatever level of compensation (for Wilson’s contract) is."

Wilson threw for 3,475 yards in 2014 with 20 touchdown passes and seven interceptions. He also ran for 849 yards and six touchdowns.

Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson missed quarterback Andy Dalton's Pro Bowl performance Sunday. Despite hearing about his 9 of 20 passing performance, Jackson said Tuesday to ESPN he still has faith in Dalton to get the job done.

"I'm not going to stop believing in him," Jackson said. "He's going to have to prove otherwise. I believe this guy has it in him. My job, my charge as I've said before is to have him do it on a consistent basis."

Jackson added he's seen the great Dalton and thinks it's something to build on.

"I see in the first three games of the season a guy that played with moxie and tenacity and aggressiveness, and who played extremely well down that 3-0 stretch," Jackson said.

Quarterback Brian Hoyer is open to returning to the Browns in 2015, if he is given a chance to compete for the starting role, Hoyer's agent Joe Linta told NBC Sports.

Hoyer started the first 13 games of the season and went 7-6. However, he was replaced by Johnny Manziel.

"I think the only thing that would make him not [want to] come back is if they said Manziel or whoever we take in the draft or whoever we sign in free agency is going to be the starter and you will only be the backup," Linta said.

Hoyer is set to become a free agent in the offseason and Linta added he expects to meet with the Browns soon to discuss their options.

The Browns have expressed interest in resigning quarterback Brian Hoyer, his agent told ESPN.com Thursday.

"We've left the door open both ways," agent Joe Linta said.

Hoyer is expected to meet with general manager Ray Farmer and new offensive coordinator John DeFilippo in the coming weeks, according to the report. The quarterback had contract extension talks with the team fall through last summer, and negotiations were not picked up during the 2014 season. If Hoyer, who went 7-6 as the Browns starter, were to return in 2015, he would likely compete with second-year quarterback Johnny Manziel for the starting role.

The NFL fined Packers outside linebacker Clay Matthews $22,050 for his illegal blindside hit on Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson in the NFC Championship Game, reports ESPN's Adam Schefter. The vicious shot to Wilson's head occurred in the second quarter.

New Browns offensive coordinator John DeFilippo, introduced at a news conference Thursday, stopped way short of committing to Johnny Manziel as his starting quarterback. "We're not sure if our starting quarterback is in the building or not," DeFilippo said, per the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Manziel did not impress as a rookie. In five games, including two starts, he completed 18 of 35 throws for 175 yards and no touchdowns with two interceptions. Manziel ran nine times for 29 yards and a score.

Brian Hoyer is about to hit free agency, and undrafted rookie Connor Shaw is the only other quarterback on the roster.

The Browns own the 12th and 19th picks in the first round of this year's draft. They selected Manziel at No. 22 overall last year.

DeFilippo said he's looking forward to working with Manziel and that Manziel will have a "clean slate."

The Bengals are sticking with Andy Dalton at quarterback and have no plans to bring in competition. But coach Marvin Lewis didn't exactly give Dalton a ringing endorsement.

Noting Dalton, Carson Palmer and Jon Kitna have started all but 12 of his 198 games as Cincy's coach, Lewis said he prefers the status quo.

“Fortunately, somehow I’ve got the right little thing on my shoulder that says, ‘Don’t get into a quarterback controversy,’” Lewis told the team's website. “That’s worked from Jon to Carson to Andy. It’s helped us have the success we’ve had and those guys have been good players, productive players. Even when they’ve left out of here they’ve been productive. It works.

“We have no problem with Andy Dalton as our quarterback. We don’t have time to waste time with another QB. To not continue to press forward and get Andy better and to get whoever the backup quarterbacks are better. The quarterback competition. Where has it worked? It doesn’t get you wins.”

The team hopes to re-sign Jason Campbell as Dalton's backup.

David Lee has returned to his role as the Bills quarterbacks coach after spending the last two seasons as the Jets quarterbacks coach, where he spent a great deal of time tutoring Geno Smith. 

While Lee was complimentary of the progress Smith made late in the 2014 season, he didn't have any issues opening up about Smith's struggles as well.

“Rex and I talked about it. He had some inconsistency, and the up-and-down part is what killed us,” Lee told the Bills' official website. “He would get loose with the football. We played good enough defense to win over there both years, but his play, it’ll cost you and it cost us.

"But he also did some great things. The last five games this season he was the seventh-rated passer in the league. He had a perfect passer rating in his last game at Miami. The potential and ability is there.” 

Smith had a 97.9 passer rating over the Jets' final five games in 2014. However, he was benched in favor of Michael Vick for a stretch this season and finished 29th in the league with a passer rating of 77.5.