The Chargers have freed up some cap space by converting a portion of Antonio Gates‘ base salary for 2014 into a signing bonus, reports Brian McIntyre (via Twitter). According to McIntyre, the move creates $1.5MM in cap savings for San Diego.
Gates, who is listed as questionable for tonight’s game in Arizona with a hamstring injury, had been set to earn a base salary of $5MM this year, but that figure has been cut to $2MM. The new $3MM bonus will be prorated over the final two years of the contract, adding an extra $1.5MM to next year’s charge.
With Ladarius Green on the rise in San Diego and Gates entering his age-34 season, there’s a reasonable chance he’ll have to accept a pay cut or be released before the 2015 season. After the restructure, the veteran tight end has a cap number of about $9.76MM for next year, including a $5.9MM base salary and about $3.86MM in potential dead money.
With the Ravens scheduled to play Week 2’s Thursday night game against the Steelers, running back Ray Rice is on track to return from his two-game suspension later this week, potentially rejoining his team on Friday. However, a new video from TMZ which shows Rice’s assault of his then-fiancée in an Atlantic City elevator, could potentially delay Rice’s return to action.
As Darin Gantt of Pro Football Talk wrote earlier today, if the NFL had yet to see the newly-public footage, the league could ultimately decide to re-open the case and reassess Rice’s punishment. Sure enough, as Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com tweets, the NFL released a statement today indicating that no one in the league office had seen the elevator video until now, despite having requested it from law enforcement earlier.
Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (Twitterlinks) reports that the Ravens also hadn’t seen the video until today, though a source said that Rice described what happened and didn’t “sugarcoat” details, meaning the description the team heard was in line with what the elevator footage showed.
While it may be true that the NFL and the Ravens hadn’t seen the video until this morning, the fact that TMZ was able to get its hands on the footage shows that it was obtainable, which raises some questions about how aggressive the league and the team were in attempting to view it.
It’s not clear yet whether the NFL will revisit Rice’s two-game suspension — the aforementioned statement about the video is the only comment the league has made so far. However, the NFL recently introduced a more punitive policy on domestic violence, which calls for a six-game ban for a first offense. With talk of a new drug policy retroactively wiping out current suspensions, it’s fair to wonder if the league will decide to retroactively add a few games to Rice’s ban, based on that new domestic violence policy.
The Panthers have created some cap space by once again restructuring the contract of defensive end Charles Johnson, according to Joseph Person of the Charlotte Observer. Person reports that the move creates $5.2MM in 2014 cap space for the team.
Johnson, 28, had been slated to earn a base salary of $8.75MM this season, but that figure has now been reduced to just $950K. The difference of $7.8MM has been converted to a signing bonus that will prorate over the final three years of the deal, for an average of $2.6MM per year.
While the restructure makes Johnson’s 2014 cap number – which dips from $16.42MM to $11.22MM – more palatable, it increases his cap hit for next year from $17.42MM to $20.02MM. It’s hard to imagine, given the cap constraints Carolina is already facing, that the team could keep Johnson at that figure, so another restructure or even a cut might be in the cards.
It’ll be an interesting situation to keep an eye on, since the Panthers will also have to make a decision on their other defensive end, Greg Hardy, who is playing the 2014 season under the franchise tag. Prior to the restructure of Johnson’s contract, he and Hardy had two of the top five largest 2014 cap hits in the NFL for defensive ends.
As the first Sunday of NFL football of the 2014 season comes to a close, coming away with a win was an important goal for every NFL team. A not-too-distant second was escaping healthy, as the Panthers confirmed by holding Cam Newton out of the opener. For as crucial as starting the season off with a victory is, the long-term health of the roster is as important for teams keying in on a playoff run.
However, the cliché is that the NFL is a war of attrition, and a few teams have already been bit by the injury bug before the first game was over. Bengals’ tight end Tyler Eifert suffered an elbow injury that knocked him our of the game and could be headed to the IR, albeit with designation for return.
The Chiefs lost two member of their starting defense today, with both linebacker Derrick Johnson and defensive lineman Mike DeVitoboth rupturing their achilles in a 26-10 loss to the Titans. The team will likely be without each player for the remainder of the season. Injuries to pass rushers Tamba Hali and Justin Houston derailed the defense last season, and after only one week the defense has already taken a big hit.
Evan Mathis has been one of the best offensive linemen in the NFL since arriving in Philadelphia in 2011. A major driving force for the Eagles’ prolific ground attack, Mathis went down with a knee injury today against the Jaguars. The team rallied for a comeback victory, but losing their left guard for an extended period of time could make things difficult for the Eagles’ offense.
Possibly the biggest name to leave a game with an injury and unable to return is first-round pick Jadeveon Clowney. Much like Mathis, Clowney suffered a knee injury, and he will miss time early in the Texans’ season. The team is set up to absorb the injury, with players in place to wade the time. However, while he has not proven his worth at the NFL level, his explosiveness and big play ability will be missed. More importantly, when the Texans do need him later in the season he will be behind the learning curve, still acclimating himself to the speed of the league.
For each of these situations, it will depend on how long the players end up out of the lineup. Teams can weather the storm for a time, but an early season injury can be a huge setback for a team with playoff hopes. The Eagles and Bengals both won their divisions in 2013, but both the AFC North and NFC East were expected to be close, with contenders waiting to pounce. The Chiefs were a surprise wild card team in 2013, but primed for regression before the injuries. The Texans missed the playoffs last season, which set them up to take Clowney at the top of the draft. However they were prepared to make it a quick return to the playoffs with the AFC South up for grabs. Each team has seen their postseason hopes grow more difficult with these week one injuries.
Eagles’ left guard Evan Mathis injured his knee when running back LeSean McCoy was tackled into him during the team’s 34-17 victory over the Jaguars. He will have an MRI on Monday morning, reports Tim McManus of PhillyMag.com.
Mathis has started 47 games for the Eagles since arriving in 2011, after coming in and out of the lineup with the Panthers and Bengals. He was named to the All Pro team in 2013, as one of the best offensive linemen in the league.
The team is extremely thin along the offensive line at the moment, and with very few options available, the Eagles will hope Mathis’ injury turns out not to be very serious.
September 7th, 2014 at 8:49pm CST by Dallas Robinson
Clubs currently hold quite a bit of leverage over recent first-round picks — 2011 first-rounders were eligible to be kept around via fifth-year options, meaning teams can wait on extension talks. However, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes, players affected by this stipulation have one mechanism by which to regain the upper hand: holding out. While some teams believe that a player who fails to show up for Week 1 will have his contract tolled for another season, Florio points to a 2000 case regarding Joey Galloway, who argued that his contract should not toll despite his missing eight games. An arbitrator ruled in Galloway’s favor, leading Florio to believes that 2011 first-rounders could do the same thing — miss up to half of a season — in the hopes of exerting enough leverage to jumpstart extension negotiations.
Here are some other contract notes from around the NFL:
Former agent Joel Corry points out (via Twitter) one flaw in Florio’s argument, noting that first-round picks that holdout during the option year are subject to a fine of one week’s salary for each missed preseason game. This wouldn’t necessarily stop players from holding out, but the potential loss of nearly 25% of one’s salary could dissuade the practice.
In the final chapter of a three-part series, Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap examines how closely current teams match the spending patterns of past Super Bowl champions. The Cardinals and Vikings have cap structures that most closely resemble former title-winning teams.
Fitzgerald also offers his thoughts on Jets receiver Jeremy Kerley (Twitter link), noting that if he can stay healthy for the entire season, Kerley could be in line for a contract extension. The 25-year-old is set to earn $1.431MM in 2014, the final year of his deal.
Texans’ defensive end Jadeveon Clowney exited the game during the team’s 17-6 victory over the Redskins. The first overall pick injured his knee during his NFL debut.
Albert Breer of NFL Network was first to report that the injury sustained was to Clowney’s MCL (via Twitter). The injury could sideline the pass rusher for between four and six weeks, reports Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (via Twitter).
While more will be known after an MRI tomorrow, according to Ed Werder of ESPN (via Twitter), Werder’s colleague Adam Schefter reports that the team fears that Clowney has suffered a meniscus tear that will require arthroscopic surgery (via Twitter).
Ian Rapoport of NFL.com confirms that the injury is indeed a torn meniscus, and reports that Clowney will have surgery on Monday (via Twitter).
Clowney had a tackle in the backfield in his first NFL game, but failed to make it to halftime healthy. Fortunately for the Texans, they have 2012 first-round pick Whitney Mercilus to replace Clowney in the starting lineup. Mercilus had six sacks as a rookie in 2012, and seven sacks last season during his sophomore campaign.
Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert suffered an elbow injury early in the 23-16 victory over the Baltimore Ravens. With the injury, Eifert is a candidate to be placed on IR with designation to return, according to Albert Breer of NFL Network (via Twitter).
Eifert, a pass catching specialist out of Notre Dame, had 39 receptions for 445 yards in 2013, and was primed for a bigger role in the offense this season. The Bengals have made use of Eifert in tandem with Jermaine Gresham in two-tight end sets in 2013, and early in their season opener today.
This leaves the team with only Gresham and journeyman Alex Smith as the two available tight ends. The 10-year veteran Smith has a large target area at 6’4″, but has not contributed much as a receiver over the last few seasons, catching only 34 passes since 2009.
Eifert would likely be designated to return if placed on IR, but in that case would have to miss at least eight weeks. The Bengals could consider bringing another tight end in the meantime if they would like to continue to utilize multiple tight ends in their offense.
September 7th, 2014 at 4:47pm CST by Dallas Robinson
Week 1 couldn’t have gone much worse in Kansas City — the Chiefs not only suffered a 26-10 loss at the hands of the Titans, but will likely miss two key defenders for the rest of the season. Linebacker Derrick Johnson and defensive lineman Mike DeVito both ruptured their Achilles tendons, announced head coach Andy Reid (via the team’s Twitter account).
Johnson, 30, leads an Chiefs inside linebacking unit that simply doesn’t have the depth to withstand his absence. Johnson played on 97% of Kansas City’ defensive snaps last season, racking up 95 tackles, 4.5 sacks, and two interceptions. Advanced metrics rated him well, as he graded out as the third-best 3-4 inside linebacker among 55 qualifiers, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). With Joe Mays having been placed on short-term IR, the Chiefs will turn to Josh Mauga and James-Michael Johnson to hold the fort in the middle of the field.
DeVito’s loss is just as devastating, as the 30-year-old started 13 games last season, finishing with 18 tackles. Like Johnson, DeVito fared well according to PFF, grading as the seventh-best 3-4 defensive end on 446 snaps. The Chiefs have a little more depth along the line than at linebacker, but Vance Walker, Damion Square, and Jaye Howard can’t be expected to match the production of DeVito.
Already expected to regress in 2014, the Chiefs can’t afford to lose players of Johnson and DeVito’s caliber. Kansas City’s defense experienced life without its stars in 2013, as well — the Chiefs ranked 14th in weighted defensive DVOA, which more heavily factors in late-season performance, following injuries to Justin Houston and Tamba Hali (after ranking ninth for the year in total). After accounting for today’s news, and the fact that Brandon Flowers and Tyson Jackson departed over the offseason, 14th is probably the ceiling for the Chiefs’ defensive DVOA performance in 2014.
September 7th, 2014 at 3:40pm CST by Dallas Robinson
Jerry Jones and the Cowboys won’t face tampering charges resulting from Jones’ June conversation with Adrian Peterson, according to Chris Mortensen of ESPN. Late last month, Don Van Natta of ESPN.com reported that Jones and Peterson had spoken over the phone, and the Vikings running back expressed interest in playing for Dallas. As our Luke Adams noted at the time, if a team is contacted by a player who is under contract with another club, that team must immediately report the contact to the club which holds the player’s rights. Sources tell Mortensen that Jones asked the Cowboys’ legal team to call the Vikings after the story came out, and Minnesota agreed not to file any charges. More from the NFC:
An injury forced Evan Mathis from today’s game against the Jaguars, but early indications are that the Eagles guard didn’t tear his ACL, according to Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link). Losing Mathis, who will have an MRI tomorrow, would be devastating for the Eagles — Pro Football Focus (subscription required) rated him as the best guard in the league last season.
Buccaneers offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford will join the team for today’s game after revealing that he recently underwent a coronary angioplasty. “I had a couple stents,” Tedford told Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “…It’s nice just to be up and around. We’ll see how much I can do next week and kind of ease back into it.” Quarterbacks coach Marcus Arroyo will call plays for the Bucs for the time being.
Christian Ponder was inactive as the Vikings No. 3 quarterback against the Rams today, and Jason La Canfora wonders (via Twitter) if a trade for the 2011 first-rounder makes sense for a QB-needy team.
The 49ers will use Lawrence Okoye, currently a member of San Francisco’s practice squad, at both defensive end and offensive tackle, tweets Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee, who notes that long-limbed Okoye might fit better along an offensive line than on a defensive front.