NFL Player News

LaMichael James promised the Sacramento Bee that he would be the Niners' punt return man this season. He tried the role last year but struggled in the preseason and never had the chance to do it. He also will work on kickoff returns while aiding in the run game behind Frank Gore. James also added 10 pounds of muscle to help him in his pass protection and stay healthy. He says he's the heaviest he's ever been in his life. "I'm way more explosive," he said. "I always felt like I was long-fast. I didn't really know how explosive I was. But I really worked hard on that -- just being more explosive."

The Browns official team website reports offensive coordinator Norv Turner is already fond of running back Trent Richardson, who rushed for 950 yards and 11 touchdowns on 267 carries. In 15 games, Richardson broke or equaled seven rookie records for the Browns, including rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, carries, yards from scrimmage (1,317), total touchdowns (12), points scored (72) and most 100-yard rushing games (three). “If you want to be good on offense, you better have good players, and Trent is outstanding,” Turner said. “He’s a young player that got a taste of it last year. He had to fight through the ups and downs of being a rookie, the injuries. Hopefully, we don’t have to deal with that, and he can make that big step that guys do from year one to year two. If you have a guy like Trent that you can build things around, you take a lot of pressure off your offensive line; you take a lot of pressure off your quarterback, take a lot of pressure off your passing game. When you can throw when it’s your decision to throw and you’re picking where and when you want to go, it’s a lot easier than when you’re in those games where you throw it 25 times in the last 20 minutes.”

Rams second-year running back Isaiah Pead told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that a slow start as a rookie kept him from maximizing his potential in 2012. He wasn't allowed to come to offseason workouts because his school didn't graduate students in time and fell behind when camp opened. "The crazy thing was, I wasn't even in school at the time," Pead said. "So I was just sitting around. I had a playbook, but I couldn't explain it to myself. I missed all but a week of (offseason practices) last year, so this year, I just feel like I’m that much farther along."

The Free Lance-Star reports Redskins running back Roy Helu expects to be ready for the start of training camp. A toe injury sidelined him last September and he was held out of recent OTA workouts.

The Washington Post reports that Redskins running back Roy Helu is sitting out OTA workouts this week as he continues to recover from last year's toe injury. The report says Helu also is dealing with an Achilles injury.

The Miami Herald reports that even though the Dolphins "love" Lamar Miller and have Daniel Thomas, who "sees himself as the successor to (Reggie) Bush," the darkhorse candidate to carry the running game is rookie Mike Gillislee. The report says "there is an internal excitement about him. There is hope he can factor and perhaps even surprise everyone." Gillislee was drafted in the fifth round this year out of Florida.

Browns coach Rob Chudzinski comfirmed running back Trent Richardson missed practice Thursday with a lower leg muscle pull. "It's precautionary," Chudzinski said. "We are holding him out. He may miss minicamp in a week and a half. I'm not sure, we'll just take it day-by-day."

Cardinals running back Ryan Williams told the Arizona Republic that he was more concerned about his knee than his play last season, saying he played scared. Williams came back from a torn patella tendon suffered in 2011 and wasn't ready for the physical punishment that comes with playing running back. Per the story, he got nervous when then-quarterback Kevin Kolb would call '39 toss' because it exposed his right side and his injured knee. The lack of confidence left him "pretty much scared all last year to get the ball in my hands." He added hurting his shoulder was a "blessing" because it allowed him time to get his knee feeling good. Now he says he's not scared anymore. "This is the healthiest I've felt in the past two years," Williams said. "It feels good to be able to run like myself, instinctive and not having to think about what I’m doing, just going out and doing it. I've been working real hard, so things are looking good. My stars are aligned this year."

The Boston Globe reports running back Brandon Bolden was absent from OTA practice Tuesday after spraining his ankle while training. He's expected to return in late May/early June.

With Willis McGahee not in attendance and Knowshon Moreno not cleared for team drills, Ronnie Hillman and rookie Montee Ball split reps at the Broncos' OTA practice on Monday. USA Today reports Hillman had more first-team reps. Quarterback Peyton Manning has high expectations for Hillman. “Everybody in Year 2 ought to be better than they were in Year 1," Manning said. "Ronnie got great experience last year as a rookie. We’re really counting on him this year to have more of a role in the offense. ... It’s not just kind of a limited package like we did last year. We are really expecting him to make that next-level jump. It starts during these OTAs and training camp and being more of an established veteran running back. To me, after your rookie year, you are a veteran in my opinion. Second year, third year, fourth year—it doesn’t matter. A lot of the expectations out of Ronnie, and we’re counting on him to do good things for us this year.”