2014 September - Pro Football Rumors

Titans Sign James Anderson; Brown To IR

September 16th, 2014 at 4:13pm CST by Luke Adams

The Titans have agreed to terms with free agent linebacker James Anderson, the team announced today (via Twitter). Anderson takes the 53-man roster spot vacated by fellow linebacker Zach Brown, who has been placed on injured reserve, ending his season.

Anderson, 30, was one of the more notable veteran linebackers on the market, having started all 16 games last season for the Bears. While Pro Football Focus’ metrics (subscription required) ranked Anderson 33rd out of 35 qualified 4-3 outside linebackers in 2013, his poor grade was due in large part to subpar performance against the run — he was one of the league’s more effective linebackers in pass coverage.

Anderson, a former third-round pick who also accumulated 102 tackles and four quarterback sacks, signed with the Pats in the offseason, but was cut during the preseason, and was one of several linebackers who worked out last week for the Titans. As for Brown, he suffered a torn pectoral muscle during Tennessee’s Week 1 game against the Chiefs.

Besides swapping in one linebacker for another on the 53-man roster, the Titans did the same on their practice squad. According to the club (via Twitter), Justin Staples has been added to the taxi squad, replacing Brandon Copeland.

Lions Worked Out Kickers, Beauharnais

September 16th, 2014 at 3:13pm CST by Luke Adams

The Lions conducted workouts with several veteran players today, including a handful of kickers, according to various reports. Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter) that Rob Bironas, Alex Henery, and Garrett Hartley all auditioned for the club, while Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun tweets that former Patriots linebacker Steve Beauharnais was also in Detroit for a tryout.

While Beauharnais’ workout looks fairly standard, the fact that Detroit brought in multiple veteran kickers is notable. Rookie Nate Freese won the job in the preseason, but he has struggled out of the gate for the Lions — he has made just two of five field goal attempts so far, with both converted tries coming from inside 30 yards.

Birons, Henery, and Hartley were the starting kickers for the Titans, Eagles, and Saints respectively for most or all of last season, and could prove to be more reliable than Freese. I’d expect the Lions to give their seventh-round pick at least one more chance to straighten things out, but his leash may not be much longer than that.

Jags Cut Cameron Bradfield; Lewis To IR-DTR

September 16th, 2014 at 1:29pm CST by Luke Adams

1:29pm: In addition to waiving Bradfield, the Jaguars have also placed tight end Marcedes Lewis on injured reserve with the designation to return, tweets John Oehser of Jaguars.com. The moves opened up two spots on the club’s 53-man roster, which Jacksonville filled by signing wideout Tavarres King from the Panthers’ practice squad and promoting tight end Marcel Jensen from the Jags’ own practice squad (Twitter link).

12:48pm: A week after their offensive line allowed Chad Henne to be sacked 10 times by the Redskins, the Jaguars are making some changes. According to Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union (via Twitter), the team has cut starting right tackle Cameron Bradfield.

Bradfield, who turned 27 on Sunday, didn’t have a great birthday — according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), he was responsible for two of the 10 sacks on Henne, and also allowed three additional quarterback pressures. The -5.1 grade for the game, on top of Week 1’s -2.5 mark, made him one of the league’s worst tackles through two weeks, per PFF. Unfortunately, that’s nothing new for the Grand Valley State product. His -29.1 mark in 2013 made him a bottom-five tackle in the NFL, out of 76 qualified players at the position.

The Jaguars inked Bradfield to a two-year contract extension in March, so they’ll be on the hook for a little dead money as a result of the move. However, that contract didn’t include a signing bonus, so the effect on the club’s 2015 cap will be limited. Sam Young and Austin Pasztor are among the in-house candidates to replace Bradfield at right tackle, and the team will also have an open roster spot to add another player, though it remains to be seen if that will be another lineman.

Latest On Josh Gordon

September 16th, 2014 at 1:02pm CST by Luke Adams

Browns wideout Josh Gordon pleaded guilty to a charge of DUI in Raleigh today, the Wake County Clerk of Court confirmed to Will Brinson of CBSSports.com. As a result of the guilty plea, Gordon received 12 months unsupervised probation and will have to pay a total of $390 in court costs and fines.

As for how the DUI will affect Gordon’s NFL status, that remains somewhat unclear. The league’s new drug policy states that the penalty for a first-time DUI will be a two-game suspension, but because the incident occurred and the legal process concluded while the old policy is still technically in place, Gordon won’t be subject to that automatic two-game suspension, reports Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.

Under the old drug policy, a first-time DUI offense results in no suspension and a maximum fine of $50K from the NFL. As Florio points out in a tweet, Gordon still may face a suspension under that old policy due to his history of substance-abuse issues, but it won’t be an automatic two-gamer, as it would be under the new rules.

Of course, once the new drug policy is instituted, which is expected to happen any day now, Gordon will still have to serve the rest of a 10-game ban for violations of the league’s substance abuse guidelines. But if he can avoid further punishment, it could make a big difference for his NFL future. Playing in the Browns’ final six games this season would allow Gordon to earn an accrued season, meaning he’d remain on track to be eligible for free agency after the 2015 season. If he were to be suspended for an additional two games, playing in only four this season, he wouldn’t earn that accrued season, meaning the Browns would get an extra year of team control on the young wideout.

Poll: Should Peterson, Hardy Play Week 3?

September 16th, 2014 at 12:27pm CST by Luke Adams

After last week’s Ray Rice drama led to the Ravens cutting their running back and the league suspending him indefinitely, attention has shifted this week to a pair of other cases of off-field violence involving NFL players. Adrian Peterson, who was indicted and charged with injuring a child, and Greg Hardy, who was recently found guilty by a judge of assaulting and threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend, were both inactive in Week 2.

However, Peterson has since been reinstated by the Vikings, and it sounds like the Panthers are at least considering doing the same for Hardy. The NFL typically allows for due process, waiting until cases have fully played out before announcing disciplinary measures for players. In these cases, however, while the legal process hasn’t been completed, Peterson has admitted to causing injury to his son, while Hardy has been found guilty by a judge, if not yet a jury.

Given the increased pressure on the NFL to come down hard on off-field instances of domestic violence and abuse in the wake of the Rice incident, the league appears to be mulling intervening in the cases of both Peterson and Hardy. We heard as much regarding Hardy’s case earlier this morning, and Jason Cole of Bleacher Report says the league is taking a long look at Peterson’s case as well.

The Peterson incident, which was publicly reported more recently than Hardy’s altercation, seems to be drawing more attention around the NFL and beyond, with Minnesota governor Mark Dayton suggesting today that the Vikings should have kept the running back suspended until the accusation of abuse is resolved in the legal system. Robert Klemko of TheMMQB.com and others have also pointed out that the Vikings’ call for “due process” didn’t seem to apply to less talented players previously on the roster who ran into legal troubles of their own.

What do you think? Are you fine with seeing Peterson and Hardy on the field until their cases have been closed? Or do we already know enough in both instances that their teams – or the league – would be justified in keeping them out of action for Week 3 and beyond?

Rams, Robert Quinn Agree To Extension

September 16th, 2014 at 10:22am CST by Ben Levine

TUESDAY, 10:22am: Quinn’s signing bonus on his new deal is a modest – and palindromic – $4,776,774, according to Joel Corry of the National Football Post (via Twitter).

SATURDAY, 7:54pm: Quinn receives $15MM at signing, reports Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, who specifies that $56.8MM of the extension is new money.

12:34pm: The Rams have agreed to a four-year extension with defensive end Robert Quinn, reports ESPN’s Adam Schefter (via Twitter). The deal is worth $66.575MM, with the player receiving $41.2MM in guaranteed money through 2019. As Ian Rapoport of NFL.com notes (via Twitter), Quinn is now the highest-paid player in franchise history.

We heard yesterday that the two sides were progressing towards a deal, and it seems like the Rams have secured one of the league’s top pass-rushers for the foreseeable future. The first-team All-Pro was dominant in 2013, finishing the season with 57 tackles, 19 sacks and seven forced fumbles. ProFootballFocus’ advanced metrics (subscription required) ranked Quinn as the top 4-3 defensive end in the league, and his 74.6 rating was nearly fifty points higher than that of number-two on the list, Greg Hardy. The website also ranked the 24-year-old as the top rushing defensive end.

As Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com notes (via Twitter), the $66MM includes all six years that Quinn is signed. Therefore, the new money is worth about $57MM, or $14.2MM per season. This would only trail defensive ends J.J. Watt, Mario Williams, Charles Johnson and Hardy in regards to average annual value (hat tip to Overthecap.com).

NFL Could Intervene In Greg Hardy Case

September 16th, 2014 at 10:07am CST by Luke Adams

“Due process” has been a popular phrase around the NFL lately, as teams and the league opt to wait for players’ legal cases to fully play out before deciding on the appropriate penalties. That’s why the Panthers elected to let Greg Hardy play in their Week 1 game against the Buccaneers, but after deactivating the defensive end in Week 2, Carolina has yet to make a final decision on how to proceed with Hardy, who was found guilty by a North Carolina judge of assaulting and threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend.

“We’re going to have to look at things and look at what’s going on,” said head coach Ron Rivera, according to Joseph Person of the Charlotte Observer. “We’re going to have to get a feel for some things, and, as I said, [GM] Dave [Gettleman] and the guys upstairs are going to do their due diligence in terms of looking at what our options are.”

As the Panthers consider their options, the decision may ultimately be taken out of their hands. A league source tells Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk that the NFL may soon intervene in the Hardy case, electing to suspend him without pay for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.

While Hardy was found guilty by a judge, the North Carolina criminal procedure allowed him to appeal that decision and receive a trial by jury, which is currently scheduled for November 17. Typically, the league and the team would wait until after that date to hand down an appropriate punishment for Hardy, but given the current climate following incidents involving Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson, the NFL and the Panthers are under increased scrutiny — seeing Hardy active in this week’s prime time Sunday Night Football game may not sit well with many fans and viewers.

A Panthers source directly involved in the Hardy situation tells Ed Werder of ESPN.com (Twitter link) that the club doesn’t know anything at this point about a potential suspension coming from the NFL.

Redskins Waive Bacarri Rambo

September 16th, 2014 at 8:52am CST by Luke Adams

The Redskins have waived safety Bacarri Rambo, according to Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports (via Twitter). A roster move along those lines had been expected, since veteran safety Brandon Meriweather can return from his two-game suspension this week, and the team needed to make room for him on its 53-man roster.

Rambo, a sixth-round pick in the 2013 draft, made three starts for Washington last year, and saw significant action in Week 1 of this season in Meriweather’s absence. However, over the course of the 72 defensive snaps this season, he recorded a -2.7 grade, according to Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics (subscription required), in large part due to his involvement on two plays — DeAndre Hopkins‘ 76-yard touchdown for the Texans in Week 1 and Marcedes Lewis‘ 63-yard score for the Jags this past Sunday.

Despite Rambo’s early-season struggles, the team has invested enough time in him over the last two seasons that I’d be surprised if he departs Washington entirely. The second-year safety still has practice-squad eligibility, so it’s possible we’ll see him land on Washington’s taxi squad, assuming he clears waivers.

NFC Notes: Murray, Lewis, Hocker, Vikings

September 15th, 2014 at 10:27pm CST by Zachary Links

If DeMarco Murray wants to discuss his next contract, Cowboys COO Stephen Jones is all ears, writes Jon Machota of The Dallas Morning News.

“We certainly wouldn’t be against that,” Jones said Monday on 105.3 The Fan [KRLD-FM]. “Long term, we’ve told DeMarco that we’d love to have him here. At the end of the day, it’s no different than Dez [Bryant], we want to keep our good players and DeMarco is one of them. I think I said something to that effect in camp. He’s a guy that we would like to see stay here long term. He’s certainly only increased our desire to have him stay.”

Here are some other notes from around the NFL this Monday:

Former Bills’ quarterback Thaddeus Lewis tried out for the Rams on Monday, reports Field Yates of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Lewis started five games for the Bills in 2013, and spent time with the Rams, Browns, and Lions before that.
Former Arkansas kicker Zach Hocker visited the Redskins, according to Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post (on Twitter).
In the thick of the Adrian Peterson controversy, one of the Vikings‘ major sponsors, the Radisson Hotel suspended their sponsorship of the team, reports the Associated Press in USA Today. “We are closely following the situation and effective immediately, Radisson is suspending its limited sponsorship of the Minnesota Vikings while we evaluate the facts and circumstances,” the company said in a statement.

Not “End Of The Road” For Charles Tillman

September 15th, 2014 at 10:12pm CST by Rob DiRe

Charles Tillman suffered a triceps injury in the Sunday Night Football matchup with the 49ers, which forced the Bears to place him on the injured reserve list, ending his 2014 campaign early. The injury is the same one that forced him to miss the second half of the 2013 season.

Tillman is among the best corners in the team’s history. However, at 34 years old there has been much speculation as to how much longer Tillman can play, writes Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times.

“I appreciate the kind words of encouragement and support from all the Bears fans who have reached out to me,” said Tillman. “I know this feeling way too well, but this isn’t the end of the road for me.”

Jahns notes that whether or not Tillman continues his career with the Bears next year, his presence has been felt. He is the franchise leader in defensive touchdowns, interceptions returned for touchdowns, and third in interceptions.

Tillman was playing 2014 out on a one-year deal, worth $3.25MM. He’ll earn a little less than that amount for the season, since a portion was tied up in per-game roster bonuses.

“As I rehab my injury, my role will transition to helping coach and support my teammates” said Tillman. “I will be at Halas Hall and do everything I can to help our team reach its goals.”