HEADLINES

Month: December 2024

Contract Details: Sanchez, McGlynn, MJD

March 31st, 2014 at 1:32pm CST by Luke Adams

Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun and the National Football Post has passed along the specific details on a few recent contracts, so let’s dive right in and round them up (all links go to Twitter)….

  • Mark Sanchez‘s contract with the Eagles includes a $750K signing bonus, a $1.5MM base salary (guaranteed for $750K), and up to $1.75MM in playing-time incentives.
  • Offensive lineman Mike McGlynn signed a two-year contract with the Redskins, and according to Wilson, it’s worth $2.7MM. That includes a $200K signing bonus, base salaries of $925K and $1.125MM, a $100K roster bonus for 2014, a $300K reporting bonus for 2015, and annual workout bonuses of $25K. McGlynn can also earn up to $750K in incentives each season.
  • Maurice Jones-Drew‘s three-year pact with the Raiders has base salaries of $1.2MM (2014), $2.4MM (2015), and $2.4MM (2016). The rest of the $7.5MM contract is made up of a $1.2MM 2014 roster bonus, and annual $100K workout bonuses.
  • The one-year deal Louis Murphy inked with the Buccaneers is a minimum salary contract that also features a $65K roster bonus and up to $300K in incentives.
  • Winston Justice can earn up to $1MM in incentives on his new one-year, $1.175MM contract with the Broncos.

FA Notes: Patterson, Rogers, Fox, Hall

March 31st, 2014 at 12:43pm CST by Luke Adams

DeSean Jackson may be the biggest name on the free agent market these days, but he’s not the only potential difference-maker still available. Let’s round up a few of the latest news and notes related to a few other free agents still on the board…

Rams Sign Shaun Hill

March 31st, 2014 at 12:24pm CST by Luke Adams

MONDAY, 12:24pm: The Rams have officially signed Hill, the team announced today in a press release.

WEDNESDAY, 1:32pm: Hill’s one-year contract with the Rams is worth $1.75MM, with another $500K available in incentives, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com.

1:09pm: Hill has agreed to terms with the Rams, confirms Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (via Twitter).

1:03pm: The Rams appear to be on the verge of locking up a backup quarterback, according to Adam Caplan of ESPN.com, who reports (via Twitter) that Shaun Hill is expected to sign a one-year deal with the team. Hill had reportedly been deciding between signing with the Rams or returning to the Lions.

If and when he finalizes an agreement with the Rams, Hill figures to replace Kellen Clemens as Sam Bradford‘s primary backup. Clemens signed with the Chargers earlier this month, and Brady Quinn remains a free agent, leaving Austin Davis as the only other quarterback on the Rams’ roster. Given Davis’ lack of experience and Bradford’s ongoing recovery from ACL surgery, a veteran QB had been on St. Louis’ offseason wish list.

Hill, 34, has backed up Matthew Stafford in Detroit for the last several seasons, and didn’t throw a single pass in 2013. In his last extended run as a starter, in 2010, Hill performed respectably in 10 starts for the Lions, completing 61.8% of his passes for 2,686 yards, and a 16-12 TD-to-INT ratio.

Tim Shaw Announces Retirement

March 31st, 2014 at 11:42am CST by Luke Adams

Former Penn State and Titans linebacker Tim Shaw has announced his retirement, writes Brad Emons of HometownLife.com. Shaw, who turned 30 last week, played six NFL seasons for the Panthers, Jaguars, Bears, and Titans after being drafted in the fifth round in 2007. He played his final regular-season game in 2012 for Tennessee, and was released this past September.

“It’s been a long time coming, but it’s a combination of me getting cut and me not getting picked back up,” Shaw said, in explaining his decision. “To be honest with you, the phone is not ringing. I still haven’t found a good reason why I got cut and why I’m not playing, so it just leads me to believe God has something else for me and I need to step away and move on. It’s just time. I feel right. I’m very blessed with my health. I just feel that I’ve been given so much that there’s just so much more to life than football. It’s just time to move on.”

In 2012, Shaw played 230 defensive snaps for the Titans and contributed on special teams as well. Overall, he recorded 43 tackles and a forced fumble in his final NFL season, making it the best overall performance of his six-year career.

AFC Notes: Pats, Dolphins, Zuttah, Titans

March 31st, 2014 at 10:41am CST by Luke Adams

DeSean Jackson‘s release was the latest reminder that trades are tricky to work out in the NFL, even when it’s simply a matter of trying to swap a player for a draft pick. Player-for-player deals are even more difficult to finalize, but Field Yates of ESPN.com (Insider-only link) has five suggestions for trades he thinks would benefit both sides, and four of them don’t include any picks. Among Yates’ suggestions: Ryan Mathews from the Chargers to the Titans for offensive tackle Michael Roos, and defensive lineman Jared Odrick from the Dolphins to the Patriots for offensive lineman Marcus Cannon.

Here’s more from around the AFC:

  • While it won’t have a real effect on teams’ cap situations for 2014, about $105MM in leaguewide deferred payments on bonus money are due today and tomorrow, tweets Brian McIntyre. As Yates writes in another ESPN.com piece, the Patriots are among the teams with a handful of payments owed, including $2.5MM each to offensive tackle Sebastian Vollmer and cornerback Kyle Arrington.
  • Dolphins owner Stephen Ross says he plans to speak to Dan Marino about a possible job within the organization, though he’s not sure yet what sort of role it would be, writes Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.
  • When the Ravens acquired Jeremy Zuttah in a trade last week, the team also worked out a five-year extension with the veteran center. Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun now has the details on Zuttah’s new contract, tweeting that it’s worth $18MM with $6.5MM guaranteed. That includes a $3.5MM signing bonus, a $1MM guaranteed 2014 base salary, and $2MM of his $3MM 2015 base salary in guaranteed money. Wilson adds in a second tweet that the deal also includes playing-time and Pro Bowl escalators, and provides the full breakdown of annual base salaries and cap figures in two final tweets.
  • The base salaries on Shaun Phillips‘ two-year deal with the Titans are $1.5MM (2014) and $2.55MM (2015), tweets Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean.
  • The Titans are hosting several players for pre-draft visits today, says Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean (all Twitter links). According to Wyatt, the players visiting the Titans include tight end A.C. Leonard, offensive linemen Kadeem Edwards and Demetrius Rhaney, and defensive back David Van Dyke of Tennessee State, as well as former Vanderbilt kicker Carey Spear, cornerback Andre Hal, and safety Kenny Ladler.
  • Nearly three weeks after the free agent period began, Tony Grossi of ESPNCleveland.com resets the Browns’ roster, examining which positions still might be areas of need.

Jets Re-Sign Nick Bellore

March 31st, 2014 at 8:34am CST by Luke Adams

As he tweeted yesterday, linebacker and special teams player Nick Bellore will be returning to the Jets for the 2014 season. Bellore, who received the $1.431MM restricted free agent tender from the team several weeks ago, has accepted that tender, and will be back on a one-year contract, the team confirmed today.

Bellore, 24, has spent the first three seasons of his NFL career with the Jets. Although he has only played 18 total defensive snaps during those three seasons, he has carved out a role as the team’s top player on special teams, leading the Jets in tackles on kickoffs every year since entering the league. Pro Football Focus has his tackle count at 41, while club’s press release has him at an impressive 75 — either way, his contributions for the unit are obvious, and are worth paying him $1.431MM next season, in the Jets’ eyes.

Latest On Chris Johnson

March 31st, 2014 at 8:19am CST by Luke Adams

The Titans’ offseason workouts get underway a week from today, and one way or another, the team will likely make a move with Chris Johnson by that point, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. As Rapoport explains (via Twitter), the Titans haven’t released Johnson yet because he has drawn some trade interest, but that interest has to turn into something tangible within the next few days, or else the club will likely end up cutting the veteran running back.

While we haven’t heard much so far about teams with potential interest in Johnson, Rapoport reports (via Twitter) that the Jets may be in the mix. New York appears reluctant to jump into the hunt for DeSean Jackson, but the team has a “level of interest” in the Titans running back.

Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News (Twitter link) echoes Rapoport’s note on the Jets having a level of interest in Johnson, adding that the team has missed out on a pair of its running back targets already this month: Donald Brown and Maurice Jones-Drew. We knew the Jets were pursuing Jones-Drew, but the fact that Brown was the club’s No. 1 RB choice, as Mehta tweets, is new information. Sources told Mehta a week ago that GM John Idzik‘s “hard-line stance” cost the Jets their top running back target earlier in free agency and that the player had signed with another AFC team — I speculated that it might have been Ben Tate, but it seems it was Brown instead.

As for Johnson, while there may be other teams with interest in him, don’t expect him to land with the Falcons. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reported yesterday that Atlanta isn’t a likely suitor for the former 2,000-yard rusher.

Remaining Salary Cap Space Per Team

March 30th, 2014 at 10:54pm CST by Peter Sowards

Curious about how much salary cap space your favorite team has? Thanks to the hard work by OverTheCap.com, they’ve procured estimates for all 32 NFL teams, and we’re bringing the figures to you in order, from most to least.

Salary Cap Space

Teams generally need between $4-6MM in cap space for their rookie draft classes. Earlier this week we brought you the 2014 rookie draft pool estimates, again courtesy of Over The Cap.

Extra Points: McRath, Price, Hoyer, Taylor

March 30th, 2014 at 8:53pm CST by Peter Sowards

It’s been a relatively slow Sunday around the league, but there are still plenty of worthwhile stories to read. We’ve parsed through an assortment of them and bring you the most pertinent bits:

  • Linebacker Gerald McRath, who played 40 games for the Titans from 2009 through 2011, has been signed by the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the Winnipeg Free Press reports.
  • Former University of Washington quarterback Keith Price wrote in this first-person piece for USA Today Sports he will make “close to 60 throws” in his upcoming pro day on Wednesday.
  • The Titans will welcome former Vanderbilt receiver Jordan Matthews on Monday for a pre-draft visit, The Tennessean’s Jim Wyatt reports (via Twitter).
  • Brian Hoyer is eager for the upcoming quarterback competition in Browns training camp, he told Daryl Ruiter of CBS Cleveland.
  • USA Today Sports’ Jim Corbett tackles the issue of finding the right fit for a team in Los Angeles.
  • Former general manager Phil Savage, now the executive director of the Reese’s Senior Bowl, spoke with Tyler Dunne of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and talked about the evolution of the tight end position: “In the classic sense of the term ‘tight end,’ you’re not going to see as many of them in college football now as you would have 15 years ago,” Savage said. “You don’t see the Mark Bavaros in the college game as much as you did 25 years ago. But I do think that teams in the NFL are looking for these guys who can play in space and give you a threat down the middle of the field.”
  • Ravens quarterback Tyrod Taylor knows his standing on the depth chart and understands he’ll have to compete for the backup job, writes The Baltimore Sun’s Aaron Wilson.

Eagles Notes: Maclin, Sproles, Jackson

March 30th, 2014 at 7:47pm CST by Peter Sowards

The time is now for Jeremy Maclin to thrive in Philadelphia, writes Zach Berman of the Philadelphia Inquirer. As the team’s No. 1 receiver with the jettisoning of DeSean Jackson, it’s unclear whether Maclin will be at full strength come training camp after an ACL injury last July, according to general manager Howie Roseman: “In terms of the exact timetable, my understanding is with an ACL, when you get to this point this far along, then the process … comes in weekly increments. I think we’ll know more as it goes. Obviously we feel really good about his progress. We signed him. We were aggressive trying to bring him back.” Roseman re-signed Maclin to a one-year, $5.5MM deal at the end of last month, and a big year could turn into a big contract for the sixth-year receiver from Chesterfield, Missouri.

More news and notes from arguably the busiest franchise this offseason…

  • ESPN.com’s Calvin Watkins a number questions regarding Jackson’s release, asking why the team didn’t demand more from Jackson or confront him about having supposed gang relations.
  • Chip Kelly doesn’t see Darren Sproles as a replacement player for Jackson. “Totally different positions,” Kelly said, via Ed Kracz of the Burlington County Times. “Darren is a running back. DeSean a wideout, so our whole thing, and I mentioned it when we got Darren, we’re excited about him, but we’ve got a long way to go here before we play a game so let’s get him in here. Let’s go through phase one, OTA, minicamp, and all that, and find out what his strengths are and play to them, but I’m real excited with the addition and what he can give us.” Kelly’s comments came at the NFL owners’ meetings when Jackson was still on the team, but the meaning remains the same.
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