The Jacksonville Jaguars unceremoniously dumped the longest-tenured player on their roster Tuesday Karl Mecklenburg Jersey , and he wasn't happy about it.

The Jaguars released veteran tight end Marcedes Lewis after 12 seasons to save $3.5 million in salary-cap space. The move came the same day Jacksonville parted ways with receiver Allen Hurns to save $7 million.

Both players are now free agents and can sign with any team that wants them.

Hurns' future had been in doubt since Dede Westbrook and Keelan Cole emerged as big-play receivers late last season. Hurns really became expendable when the Jaguars signed two receivers last week, bringing back Marqise Lee and adding Donte Moncrief in free agency.

Lewis thought his spot was safe, even after Jacksonville signed Austin Seferian-Jenkins and Niles Paul last week. The Jaguars picked up an option in Lewis' contract last month.

Lewis told The Associated Press he felt "disrespected" by the timing of the move. It came a week after free agency began.

"I wish they would have done it sooner," he said. "I think I deserved a little better than this."

The 33-year-old Lewis, a first-round draft pick in 2006, played in 170 games with Jacksonville. His 375 receptions and 4,502 yards receiving both rank third in team history. His 33 receiving touchdowns are second-most in franchise history, trailing only Jimmy Smith (67).

He said he hopes to continue playing and would prefer to stay closer to his home and daughter in Los Angeles. Lewis has ties to former Jaguars coach and current Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, and his college position coach, Jon Embree Graham Gano Jersey , is tight ends coach for the San Francisco 49ers. Also, former Jaguars offensive coordinator Greg Olson now holds the same position with the Oakland Raiders.

"I've still got a few more years left in me," Lewis said. "Any team that gets me will get a guy who does everything the right way on and off the field and with 100 percent effort. That's all I did in Jacksonville. I always did what they asked me to do, which is why the way they let me go is annoying in that sense."

Hurns would have been behind Lee and Moncrief on the depth chart, and Jacksonville felt his salary was too high for a backup who has missed 11 games the last two seasons.

Hurns has 189 receptions for 2,669 yards and 21 touchdowns in four years since signing with the Jaguars as an undrafted rookie from Miami. But he caught just 74 passes for 961 yards and five scores the last two years while dealing with a sports hernia in 2016 and a high ankle sprain in 2017.

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John Beilein says he was never offered the Detroit Pistons' coaching job.

"I never really had to make the decision," the Michigan coach said. "That would have been a tough one."

Beilein is now looking ahead to another season of college basketball after briefly emerging as a candidate for the Pistons. Not long after the news broke about Beilein's talks with Detroit, he said he'd be back at Michigan . The Pistons eventually hired Dwane Casey earlier this month.

On Tuesday, Beilein held a news conference to talk about the offseason. He led Michigan to the national title game this year before falling to Villanova, so the possibility of losing Beilein to the NBA was a jolt to Wolverines fans.

"I was not offered the job by the Pistons Josh Gordon Jersey ," Beilein said. "We certainly had some mutual interest. I think they had a great candidate in Dwane Casey."

Beilein said he was intrigued by the possibility of coaching in the game's top league.

"I love coaching basketball a lot, and you're watching the NBA playoffs, and you're seeing what guys are doing, and you're looking, like, they're running stuff that we run," Beilein said. "I don't know if they watched us or I watched them. You can see, boy, if you have really highly skilled players – (Boston Celtics coach) Brad Stevens kept telling me, `I'm having a blast.' When you hear those words Jadeveon Clowney Jersey , and your season's over – so that was appealing."

With the Pistons' search behind him, Beilein can prepare for the 2018-19 season with the Wolverines. Michigan announced Tuesday that the team will go on a tour of Spain from Aug. 17-26 that will include exhibition games.

The Wolverines lost star big man Moe Wagner early to the NBA, but some key players return from what was one of the best defensive teams in the nation. Charles Matthews, Zavier Simpson, Jordan Poole and Isaiah Livers will be joined by what is expected to be a strong group of new recruits.

So Beilein has plenty to look forward to at the college level, and he indicated there might not be any more flirtations with the NBA.

"I think that I ran that race, and you can't run that race too many times," he said. "I don't know what I would have done, but I was really impressed with everybody in that organization, and I'll be rooting for them like I always have."

The other interesting bit of recent news that at least partially involved the Michigan basketball program was Chris Webber's appearance with Wolverines football coach Jim Harbaugh on WTKA last week. Harbaugh asked Webber to be an honorary captain for the football team next season Carlos Hyde Jersey , and Webber sounded amenable to the idea.

A return to Ann Arbor by Webber – even if it's for football – would be a big deal. He led the Michigan basketball team to the Final Four in 1992 and 1993, but a federal investigation revealed that a booster gave Webber and three other players more than $600,000 while they were student-athletes, and the NCAA forced the school to dissociate from them until 2013.

"There was five or six years where I was limited what I could say about that era. Since the ban's been off, I've reached out to Chris several times," Beilein said. "I continue to do that, and we're going to continue to try and build bridges and just really work at making sure there's a lot of healing going forward. … I want every player that ever played here to feel like he's a part of that building, including Chris and anyone else."

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