NFL notebook: Gruden denies ignoring holdout LB Mack

The most noticeable absence around Oakland Raiders camp remains star defensive end Khalil Mack. A three-time Pro Bowl selection and 2016 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, Mack is set to make $13.846 million this season in the fifth-year option of his rookie contract. The 27-year-old reportedly is looking to become among the highest-paid non-quarterbacks in the league. Negotiations between the Raiders and Mack's representatives seem to have stalled. At least one report said new Raiders coach Jon Gruden and Mack have yet to talk. Gruden denied that he and Mack had not any conversation since Oakland hired Gruden in January. He "chuckled" when asked about not having any communication with Mack and the ensuing drama. Gruden responded to the San Francisco Examiner by asking, "Is that dramatic?" In fact, Gruden said the report was not true. "I've talked to Khalil," Gruden said. "Those guys aren't always 100 percent accurate. I talked to Mack when I got the job. I just haven't had a lot of talk with him lately. Not much to talk about right now." According to a number of reports, the two sides are not close. Gruden said he hopes general manager Reggie McKenzie and Mack's agents can come to a middle ground so the 27-year-old Pro Bowler can start practice soon. -- Tampa Bay Buccaneers first-round defensive tackle Vita Vea exited Sunday's practice on a cart with an apparent lower left leg injury, multiple media outlets reported. Vea, who was the 12th overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft, was seen getting his left shin wrapped prior to his ride on the cart. It was not immediately clear how Vea sustained the injury. "Vita left practice, not sure what it is. It's a lower leg injury of some kind," coach Dirk Koetter said, per ESPN. "We'll know later. I don't know right now." The 6-foot-4, 347-pound Vea was named the 2017 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year after making 43 tackles and 3.5 sacks last year at Washington. He also helped lead the Huskies to the College Football Playoff in the 2016 season. -- Pittsburgh Steelers left guard Ramon Foster is expected to miss four to five weeks with a hyperextended knee, multiple media outlets reported Sunday. Foster did not endure ligament damage and will avoid surgery on the knee after injuring the knee during a padded training camp session at Saint Vincent College, per NFL Network's Aditi Kinkhabwala. The 32-year-old Foster, however, sustained a bone bruise and a stretch of the MCL. B.J. Finney will likely see additional reps in the absence of Foster, who held his right knee after going down on the third play during 11-man work on Saturday. -- New York Jets rookie quarterback Sam Darnold's contract holdup is centered on forfeiture language, according to a published report Sunday. NFL Network's Michael Silver reported that the snag between the Jets and Darnold deals with the team being able to recoup money should the player be injured in activities outside of football. Darnold, the No. 3 overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft, was listed as the team's No. 3 quarterback on the depth chart after last month's minicamp. Veteran Josh McCown is listed as the starter with Teddy Bridgewater as his backup. The Jets moved up three spots after a blockbuster trade with the Indianapolis Colts to select Darnold, who completed 303 of 480 passes for 4,143 yards and 26 touchdowns with USC last season. -- Terrell Owens will not be in Canton, Ohio, next week when the Class of 2018 is inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He finished his 15-year career second in receiving yards with 15,934 and 153 receiving touchdowns, which ranks third. His 1,078 career receptions has him eighth on the all-time list. But Owens was not voted into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility and evidently that was enough for him to boycott his enshrinement festivities. In a recent interview with TMZ, Owens was unhappy with being snubbed in his first-year of eligibility, and that's why he's not going to Canton. And he blamed the media for demeaning his character, as well. "What I will say is that my character is something that I will always defend," Owens told TMZ. "That's what happened the first two times around with the Hall of Fame. When you got the media -- over the course of my career -- that habitually told lies and obviously, the media and everybody else, even the writers, that really started to factor in the character issues, that's what it's mostly about." He said he would have attended the ceremony if he had been elected in his first year. But now he says he is at peace with his decision. He will be celebrating instead in Chattanooga, Tenn., where he attended college and was a third-round pick by San Francisco in 1996. -- The New York Jets signed running back George Atkinson III to a contract, the team announced Sunday. The addition of Atkinson comes on the heels of fellow running back Elijah McGuire sustaining a broken foot on Friday during the team's first training camp practice. McGuire is expected to miss three to six weeks for the Jets, who had worked out running backs Orleans Darkwa and Alfred Morris on Saturday. Tight end Bucky Hodges was waived in a corresponding move on Sunday. Atkinson, who is the son of former Raiders safety George Atkinson, started his NFL career as an undrafted rookie with his father's team. The younger Atkinson played five games for the Raiders in 2014 and rushed seven times for 34 yards and a touchdown in 16 games for the Cleveland Browns in 2016. Atkinson spent last season on the Kansas City Chiefs' practice squad before being waived in April. He joins Isaiah Crowell, Bilal Powell and Thomas Rawls on the depth chart for the Jets. -- Antonio Brown played the role of recruiter on social media Sunday when he asked fellow wide receiver Dez Bryant to consider joining the Pittsburgh Steelers. "Come play with me @DezBryant let's get the chip. Eat Greedy. Big plates," Brown posted on Twitter. Brown, who is a six-time Pro Bowl selection, headlines a Steelers depth chart that includes JuJu Smith-Schuster, Eli Rogers, Darrius Heyward-Bey and rookie James Washington. Fellow wideout Martavis Bryant was traded to the Oakland Raiders for a third-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft during the offseason. Brown's 733 receptions for 9,910 yards are more than any other wideout since he entered the league as a sixth-round pick of the Steelers in the 2010 NFL Draft. The Cowboys released Bryant in April because of his declining production after the three-time Pro Bowl selection signed a five-year, $70 million contract last season. He blamed his ineffectiveness in part on the team's play-calling. Bryant, who spent eight seasons with the Cowboys, had a team-leading 69 receptions for 838 yards and six touchdowns with Dallas in 2017. -- A little more than a month ago, the body of Roosevelt Rene was found in a house owned by New York Giants cornerback Janoris Jenkins. The cause of death was determined to be suffocation/strangulation and Jenkins' brother William was charged with aggravated manslaughter. The Bergen County (N.J.) Prosecutor's Office said Rene, 25, was a Jenkins family friend who had been living at the Pro Bowl cornerback's house. William Jenkins, who was detained by sheriff's deputies on an alleged parole violation before he was placed in custody in Ontario County, N.Y., could be sentenced to 10 to 30 years in prison if convicted on the manslaughter charge. Janoris Jenkins was training in Florida when Rene's body was found on June 26 in the Giants cornerback's New Jersey house, about 10 miles from MetLife Stadium. "It's shocking, but I still gotta come and play football, and right now, my main focus is to come out here and get better every day for my teammates and just stay focused," Jenkins said, via quotes distributed by the Giants. -- Three Cincinnati players have passed physicals and were expected to return to practice on Sunday. Safety Tyrice Beverette, wide receiver Devonte Boyd and cornerback Davontae Harris all passed their physicals and were expected to suit up. Beverette had been placed on the Active/Non-Football Illness list on Thursday. Boyd and Harris had been placed on the Active/Physically Unable to Perform list, also on Thursday. Beverette is a 6-foot, 200-pound safety who played at Stony Brook, where he was a three-year starter. Boyd, a wide receiver from UNLV, was named a Freshman All-American after catching 65 receptions for 980 yards and four touchdowns in 13 games. Harris is a 5-foot-11, 205-pound cornerback who was picked in the fifth round of the 2018 draft out of Illinois State. -- New Cleveland Browns quarterback Tyrod Taylor took some extraordinary steps to become a leader for a team and fan base desperate for a winner. Taylor, who is making a guaranteed $16 million this year, paid for several of his teammates to meet in Los Angeles for high-intensity workouts in July. He wanted to get as many teammates together so they'd be ready for training camp. Along with veteran wide receiver Jarvis Landry, the two newcomers to Cleveland decided when and where a good place would be to schedule such workouts, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported. Quarterback Baker Mayfield, running backs Duke Johnson and Carlos Hyde, tight ends Seth DeValve and David Njoku and wide receivers Corey Coleman, Da'mari Scott and Rashad Higgins met up in L.A. with Taylor and Landry. -- Quarterback Derek Carr is thrilled the Oakland Raiders secured the services of veteran wide receiver Jordy Nelson. Carr glowingly shared his feelings about the offseason acquisition to the East Bay Times recently. "I can't say enough good things. I can't believe Green Bay let him go, but I'm glad he's here," the 27-year-old Carr said. The Packers released Nelson in May in what can be described as a cost-cutting move. The 33-year-old Nelson's departure opened $10.2 million in cap space for Green Bay. After missing the 2015 season because of a knee injury, Nelson had a big 2016 campaign for the Packers with 97 receptions, 1,257 yards and a league-leading 14 touchdown catches. Nelson's numbers declined significantly in 2017, when he had 53 catches for 482 yards and six touchdowns in 15 games. Nelson will likely serve as the No. 2 wideout on the Raiders' depth chart behind Amani Cooper. -- Cincinnati rookie offensive lineman Rod Taylor will miss the entire 2018 season after sustaining a torn ACL in practice last week. Taylor, who was a seventh-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, was pulling across the line of scrimmage before he fell to the ground with a knee injury during Thursday's practice. The 6-foot-3, 320-pound Taylor was carted off the field and was seen on crutches in the locker room Friday, per the Cincinnati Enquirer. Taylor, 21, played guard and tackle at the University of Mississippi. -- San Francisco 49ers linebacker Reuben Foster said he learned a great deal after being separated from his team while in the midst of serious allegations related to domestic violence. "It was a big learning experience," Foster said Saturday, via NBC Sports Bay Area. "I learn from every mistake, everything that's said, all my flaws. I learned from a lot of things and just grew from it. It made me appreciate football a lot better. It was crazy, knowing that football can be gone. Being back on this field with my brothers and these coaches, man, is a blessing." Foster was suspended two games for violating the league's policies on personal conduct and substance abuse. The disciplinary action stems from separate incidents involving a misdemeanor weapons charge and misdemeanor marijuana possession charge. Foster will miss the season opener at Minnesota and a home game versus the Detroit Lions. He is eligible to return to San Francisco's roster on Sept. 17. The second-year linebacker out of Alabama will be eligible to participate in all preseason practices and games. Foster pleaded no-contest in June to a misdemeanor weapons charge in Santa Clara County (Calif.) Superior Court. He was sentenced to two years of probation, 240 hours of community service and $235 in fines. -- Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II has seen the script play out in regard to running back Le'Veon Bell. Bell is skipping camp for the second straight year after he and the Steelers' front office failed to come to an agreement on a long-term deal before the deadline. The Steelers' brass insists it isn't worried about Bell's preparedness heading into what could be his final year with the team. "We went through this last year," Rooney told NFL Network's Judy Battista on Inside Training Camp Live on Saturday. "And when Le'Veon got here, his commitment to the team is as good as ever so expect the same thing when he gets here this year. Of course, I hope he gets here a little earlier; we'll see.