2015 NFL Draft - Pro Football Rumors

Draft Notes: Winston, Borland, Visits

March 18th, 2015 at 9:03pm CST by Ben Levine

Some assorted draft notes from around the league…

Jameis Winston‘s decision to skip out on the NFL draft may have been based on pressure from the league. According to Bleacher Report’s Jason Cole, the NFL may have been fearing “protests” regarding Winston’s selection in the draft, with the league advising the prospect to keep a “low profile.”
Following the surprise retirement of Chris Borland, Cole says teams are becoming cautious of players who are “too smart for football.” Specifically, players who have future careers outside of football may be less desirable than players who are “desperate” to become professional athletes.
Georgia running back Todd Gurley told reporters that he’s set to meet with the Panthers after having already met with the Lions, according to D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Gurley revealed that he’s also meeting with five other teams.
Wisconsin running back Melvin Gordon is scheduled to meet with the Ravens, according to Yahoo’s Rand Getlin (via Twitter).
Meanwhile, Getlin reports (on Twitter) that Duke wideout Jamison Crowder is gaining some interest, as the player has workouts planned with the Patriots, Buccaneers, Panthers and Texans.
Michigan State cornerback Trae Waynes told ESPN.com’s Michael Rothstein that he’s set to meet with the Vikings and Jaguars in April (Twitter link). Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press tweets that the defensive back also has private workouts scheduled with the Titans and Panthers.
According to Tony Pauline of DraftInsider.com (via Twitter), Boise State running back Jay Ajayi had dinner with the Chargers brass on Tuesday night.
The Jets have scheduled a one-on-one meeting with Missouri defensive end Shane Ray, according to Pauline (on Twitter).
Purdue tight end Gabe Holmes had a private workout today with the Cardinals, according to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (on Twitter). The session went well, as Wilson says Holmes “caught everything.”
Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty has visits set up with the Cowboys, Chargers and Rams, according to Fox Sports’ Alex Marvez (via Twitter).

NFC North Notes: T. Williams, Gurley, Waynes

March 16th, 2015 at 8:11pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Packers were willing to pay Tramon Williams $5MM annually, but dropped out of the bidding for their free agent once the price became too expensive, according to Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (Twitter link). Per McGinn, Williams entered the weekend with a target contract of $30MM over four years — the cornerback ultimately scored a three-year, $21MM deal from the Browns, so he came close to his goal in terms of AAV.

Let’s take a look at some more news from the NFC North…

The Lions were set to host Georgia running back Todd Gurley today, writes Tim Twentyman of DetroitLions.com. Gurley, coming off a torn ACL, is projected to be one of the first two RBs taken in next month’s draft.
Elsewhere in the NFC North, the Vikings are also lining up pre-draft visits, and Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that Michigan State cornerback Trae Waynes will soon meet with Minnesota. Waynes is viewed as the top CB available by most draft analysts.
In an interesting piece for ESPN Wisconsin, Jason Wilde examines why the Packers are usually reticent to sign unrestricted free agents, but are generally able to retain their own. The article has many insightful quotes from Green Bay general manager Ted Thompson and is worth a full read.

West Notes: J. Williams, DGB, Gordon, Hawks

March 16th, 2015 at 5:54pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Despite being waived by the Seahawks less than two weeks ago, defensive tackle Jesse Williams is expected to re-sign with Seattle soon, as he tells Tom Boswell of the Courier-Mail. The 24-year-old Williams has spent the duration of his two-year NFL career on injured reserve with knee issues, but he says multiple surgeries have corrected the issue. The Alabama product became the first Australian to win a Super Bowl ring when the Seahawks won the championship in 2014.

Here’s more from Seattle and rest of the NFL’s West divisions…

Before they acquired Jimmy Graham last week, the Seahawks were “digging into” Oklahoma receiver Dorial Green-Beckham, according to Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Green-Beckham carries quite a bit of off-the-field baggage, but Seattle could be looking to add a downfield threat via the draft, leading Robinson to wonder if the club could take a chance on DGB if he falls to the second round.
In other draft news, the Cardinals are meeting with Wisconsin running back Melvin Gordon today, tweets Rand Getlin of Yahoo! Sports. Arizona has been linked to Adrian Peterson, but as Getlin notes, Gordon would present a younger and cheaper alternative at the position.
Though he didn’t outwardly express it during a press conference earlier today, it’s clear Chargers owner Dean Spanos is skeptical about keeping the team in San Diego, writes Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, who adds that it should be clear by the start of the season whether the Chargers will be able to stay in SD.

King’s Latest: Peterson, Hardy, Winston

March 16th, 2015 at 9:30am CST by Luke Adams

After publishing a Wednesday Morning Quarterback last week to recap a crazy first day of NFL free agency, Peter King of TheMMQB.com returns to his usual Monday Morning Quarterback piece this week, and the latest installment includes several noteworthy tidbits from around the league. Let’s round up the highlights….

Addressing a report about the Cardinals‘ possible interest in Adrian Peterson, King cites a “reliable Cardinals source” who indicates Arizona hasn’t had any contact with the Vikings about Peterson. “There is no way we could live with those numbers,” the source said, referring to the three years and $45MM left on the running back’s contract. “We just got Larry Fitzgerald’s contract under control. No way we’d add that salary.”
One general manager tells King that Greg Hardy is on his club’s free agent list, “but pretty far down.” Many teams believe the veteran defensive end will be suspended by the league for the first six games of the 2015 season.
Jameis Winston isn’t currently planning to attend the 2015 NFL draft in Chicago, preferring to spend it with family and friends down south, says King.
King thinks a team like the Falcons or Buccaneers would be a nice fit for free agent pass rusher Dwight Freeney.
The Jets likely would have blown any rival offer for Darrelle Revis out of the water, so even if the Patriots had been willing to get into the neighborhood of New York’s five-year, $70MM proposal, the Jets probably would’ve just upped the ante.
The Cowboys started out at a $5MM-per-year price tag for DeMarco Murray, and were willing to stretch that to $6MM annually, but never considered matching the Eagles‘ final offer, which got up to $8MM+.

Draft Notes: Mariota, Ebbele

March 14th, 2015 at 10:17pm CST by Rob DiRe

As free agency’s flashy stage winds down, the next batch of potential impact players will come from the college ranks.

Some early draft buzz …

The Eagles made a move at quarterback this past week, acquiring former first-overall pick Sam Bradford from the Rams. Despite the move, prospect Marcus Mariota could still envision his former coach, Chip Kelly, drafting him in the first round. “I wouldn’t doubt it, but Coach Kelly and the Eagles are going to do what’s best for the team,” Mariota told Zach Berman of Philly.com. “We’ll see what happens.”
Meanwhile, Mariota indicated that he wouldn’t have any qualms about being selected by the Jets. “I’d love to play for the Jets,” Mariota said (via Seth Walder of the New York Daily News). “Meeting with the offensive coordinator (Chan Gailey) and the quarterbacks coach (Kevin Patullo) was awesome. It was an opportunity for me to introduce myself, and it seems like a great organization.”
Gary Myers of the Daily News argues the Jets’ passing on Mariota at No. 6 overall — or failing to trade up to acquire the spread-honed prospect — would halt the team’s momentum it created from adding Darrelle Revis.
The Bengals hosted a private workout for Arizona right tackle Fabbians Ebbele today, according to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (via Twitter).

Ben Levine and Sam Robinson contributed to this post.

AFC South Notes: Orakpo, Colts, Jackson

March 12th, 2015 at 7:49am CST by Luke Adams

As we wait for Thursday’s free agent action to ramp up, let’s check in on some items from around the AFC South….

After visiting the Titans yesterday, Brian Orakpo remains in Tennessee and has yet to officially set up a time to visit the Cardinals, reports Josina Anderson of ESPN.com (Twitter links). A visit to Arizona is the plan for Orakpo if and when he leaves the Titans meeting, but as he said yesterday, “anything can happen.”
The Colts have signed Kendall Langford and Trent Cole and brought back Mike Adams in free agency, but after adding veteran running back Frank Gore, wide receiver Andre Johnson, and guard Todd Herremans on offense, the team figures to focus primarily on its defense in next month’s draft, tweets Stephen Holder of the Indianapolis Star. One exception, Holder notes (via Twitter), will be drafting a young running back, if the right guy is available.
Kareem Jackson‘s new deal with the Texans includes $16MM in fully guaranteed money, but practically speaking, the full guarantee is $20MM, since the cornerback gets a $4MM roster bonus today, tweets Albert Breer of the NFL Network.
According to Peter King of TheMMQB.com (via Twitter), a source close to Marcus Mariota advised King not to minimize the Titans‘ interest in the quarterback, suggesting they’re “very serious.” Whether that reported interested is legit or a smokescreen remains to be seen.

Chip Kelly On Mariota, McCoy, Bradford

March 11th, 2015 at 12:46pm CST by Zachary Links

Eagles coach Chip Kelly hosted a press conference this afternoon and we’ve gathered all the highlights right here. All links to go the Twitter feed of PhiladelphiaEagles.com, unless noted otherwise:

Kelly told reporters, including the staff of PhiladelphiaEagles.com (on Twitter), that he didn’t think that he needed to control the team’s personnel and said that it was a decision that the team’s owner had made. Of course, Kelly got control over the roster this offseason in a front office reshuffling that saw former GM Howie Roseman change roles. Kelly feels that the biggest difference in the draft this year will be having the final say over matters, something that he didn’t have over the last two years (link).
The Eagles coach dispelled the notion that the Eagles will try and trade up for Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota (link). The Eagles have been heavily connected to Mariota for months now and speculation has only intensified as Kelly appears more driven than ever to fill the Eagles’ roster with Oregon alum. Kelly feels that Mariota is the best QB in the draft, but he’s unwilling to mortgage the future to land him and the team has too many other needs to address (link).
Kelly considered the trade of LeSean McCoy for linebacker Kiko Alonso to be important because it allowed the team to go after cornerback Byron Maxwell (link).
The coach claimed that the Bills leaked the news of the McCoy trade before he could call the running back to notify him, Dan Graziano of ESPN.com tweets.
Kelly said it was “essential” to get Mark Sanchez back (link) and added that he never would have been able to acquire a quarterback of Sam Bradford‘s caliber had he not torn his ACL. The team has yet to have extension talks with Bradford (link). That’s not a big concern to Kelly, however, who said that everyone is essentially playing year-to-year and believes that Bradford has tremendous upside (link).
The Eagles coach/exec claims that the Eagles were offered a first-round pick for Bradford on Wednesday morning (link). However, Bradford wasn’t brought in to be a trade chip, Kelly said, according to Geoff Mosher of CSNPhilly.com (on Twitter).
There were other teams involved in the Bradford sweepstakes, Kelly says (link). Meanwhile, the Eagles only spoke with the Rams about Nick Foles.

King’s Latest: Peterson, Cowboys, Forsett

March 11th, 2015 at 8:38am CST by Luke Adams

Following a wild Tuesday in the NFL, Peter King of TheMMQB.com introduced a one-time-only Wednesday Morning Quarterback column to reflect on yesterday’s highlights from around the NFL. The piece included a handful of interesting tidbits worth passing along, so let’s dive in….

King hears that running back Adrian Peterson hasn’t changed his mind about wanting out of Minnesota, and notes that if a team like the Jaguars or Raiders ends up landing DeMarco Murray, Jerry Jones and the Cowboys could be willing to move a draft pick for the Vikings star.
Speaking of Murray and the Cowboys, LeSean McCoy‘s lucrative new contract with the Bills is having a “chilling effect” on Dallas’ efforts to re-sign the NFL’s leading rusher, says King.
The Ravens would very much like to re-sign Justin Forsett, but are expected to bow out if the bidding gets too high.
Seahawks GM John Schneider only had first-round grades on 16 players in this year’s draft class, so when he parted with the No. 31 overall pick in yesterday’s Jimmy Graham trade, he essentially viewed that pick as a second-rounder.
The league appears to be concerned, but “not fuming,” over all the contract agreements that were leaked before the start of the free agent period. We heard yesterday that the league had asked teams to hang onto their phone records, but King doesn’t believe we’ll see much more than “an angry finger-wag” at teams and their general managers.
Jameis Winston met with commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL officials last Thursday, in a meeting that was instigated by the young quarterback and his camp, writes King. The purpose of the sit-down was to allow Winston to tell his own story about his history of off-field incidents, and to get the lay of the land for his future in the NFL. “He went out of his way to make a good impression, and to show that he understood what was going to be expected of him in the NFL,” one league official told King.

Extra Points: DeVito, L.A., Garcon, NFLPA

February 25th, 2015 at 3:07pm CST by Luke Adams

While hundreds of NFL writers will submit mock drafts within the next two months, few are more plugged in than Peter King of TheMMQB.com, whose first mock draft of the year lends credence to the idea that the Eagles have real interest in Marcus Mariota. King’s mock has the Eagles pulling off a trade with Washington to move up to the No. 5 spot and nab Mariota — Philadelphia gives up its first- and second-round picks this year, along with its first- and fourth-round picks for 2016, in the hypothetical swap.

Here’s more miscellany from around the NFL:

The Chiefs are expected to ask defensive lineman Mike DeVito to take a pay cut, reports Conor Orr of NFL.com. DeVito, who is set to earn a base salary of $3.75MM with a 2015 cap number of $5.4MM, could be cut by Kansas City if he decides he doesn’t want to accept a reduced salary.
As Nathan Fenno of the Los Angeles Times reported late last night (via Twitter), Inglewood’s City Council unanimously approved Stan Kroenke‘s Hollywood Park stadium project. By approving the project, the Inglewood City Council can skip a couple steps, Curtis Crabtree of Pro Football Talk explains. City officials can now avoid putting the stadium proposal up for a public vote, and can avoid “potentially lengthy” environmental reviews. Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter link) notes that Carson officials are expected to do the same thing with the Raiders/Chargers‘ stadium proposal.
There have been “zero talks” about Pierre Garcon‘s contract between his camp and the Washington front office, according to John Keim of ESPN.com (via Twitter). That doesn’t mean discussions won’t happen at some point, but Keim notes there’s been nothing yet to indicate that any sort of move involving Garcon is coming.
An already crowded field got even more crowded today, as former NFL player Sean Morey emerged as the latest candidate to become executive director of the NFLPA, per Rand Getlin of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter).
The latest MMQB.com piece from ex-Packers executive Andrew Brandt touches on a handful of interesting topics, as Brandt explores the L.A. issue, notes the different between a contract restructure and a pay cut, and points out that salary cap flexibility can often be created fairly easily.

Combine Pressers: Rams, Jags, Seahawks

February 20th, 2015 at 4:05pm CST by Luke Adams

Most head coaches and general managers who were scheduled to speak to the media in a press conference setting at the combine this week did so on Wednesday or Thursday, but there were still a few names left on the docket today. Three head coaches or GMs spoke to reporters at the podium in Indianapolis this morning and afternoon, and we’ve got a recap of their notable comments below, with all links going to Twitter unless otherwise indicated….

Rams head coach Jeff Fisher:

According to Darin Gantt of Pro Football Talk, Fisher said today that a report suggesting Sam Bradford was allowed to seek a trade was “inaccurate.” However, he stressed that the Rams will definitely be keeping an eye out for a quarterback this offseason. “It could be a veteran, could be a draft pick,” Fisher said. “But it’s extremely important to have that option, yes.”
Fisher once again reiterated that the Rams want Bradford back, noting that the former first overall pick had dinner with new quarterbacks coach Chris Weinke last week before Weinke was hired.
In addition to interviewing Jeff Garcia, the Rams also spoke to Steve Walsh about their QB coach job before hiring Weinke, according to Fisher.
Jake Long‘s rehab is progressing and the team is working on figuring out where he could fit besides left tackle, with many options in play, said Fisher. Greg Robinson is poised to take over as the Rams’ permanent left tackle, meaning Long will either switch positions or be cut.

Jaguars general manager Dave Caldwell:

The Jaguars will have a top-three pick once again this season, and while the club has held onto its top pick in recent years, Cadlwell is more willing to discuss the possibility of moving down this time around, writes Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union. “I feel more open to it this year because we don’t need to have a guy come in and start,” Caldwell said. “We had no margin for error the last two years. We had to draft them and start them.”
If the Jags do decide to trade their pick, Caldwell expects it to be a last-minute move, since some teams wait until draft day to make a real offer.
The Jaguars head into March armed with a ton of cap space, and the team plans to be aggressive in free agency, but won’t “spend just to spend,” said Caldwell.
Caldwell has received second-hand reports telling him that wide receiver Justin Blackmon is making solid progress, trying to make positive strides in his life. Blackmon is slowly working his way toward reinstatement, as we heard a couple weeks ago.

Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll:

The Seahawks have made “big offers” to running back Marshawn Lynch, and engaged in “earnest” talks with him, per Carroll. The club is still waiting on Lynch to make a decision about the coming season, and if he decides to continue playing, it sounds like he’ll be rewarded with an extension.
Having lost coaches like Dan Quinn and Ken Norton to larger roles with other clubs, the Seahawks are still looking to fill a couple spots on their defensive staff, according to Carroll, who said the team is conducting interviews in Indianapolis.

2015 NFL Draft News & Rumors